Number Of Professors In Nigerian Varsities Low, Says NUC

The National Universities Commission has rated the number of full professors in Nigerian universities low.

According to the NUC, the decision to rate the quality of the academic staff on the professorial level is because professorship is considered the zenith of academic quality.

This is as the commission disclosed that only 107 universities were approved to run postgraduate studies.

The NUC stated this in a series of data published on its website on Wednesday.

“This is an assessment of the quality of academic staff in the university. The full professorial category is selected as it is the zenith of academic staff quality in a university,” the NUC stated.

According to the data, the institution with the highest number of professors is the Usman Dan Fodio University, which the NUC ranked at 36.44 per cent. This was closely followed by the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with 35.80 per cent.

The University of Ibadan came third with 29.04 per cent, while the University of Lagos was placed in the bottom 16 with only 14.75 per cent of professors. Other federal universities with an extremely low percentage of professors are the Federal University, Oye Ekiti; Federal University, Lafia; University of Agriculture, Makurdi; and the University of Uyo, among others.

For state owned universities, the NUC noted that 11 of them had below 10 per cent of full professors.

It named the institutions as the Cross Rivers University of Technology, Kwara State University, Bayelsa State Medical University, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University, Adamawa State University, The Technical University, Maitama Sule University, Bauchi State University, Gombe State University, Kano State University of Science and Technology, and the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology.

In the private universities’ category, the NUC noted that some institutions had less than six per cent of full professors. They are Bowen University, Baze University, Summit University, Crescent University, Hallmark University, Clifford University, Igbinedion University, Augustine University, Al-Qalam University, Landmark University and Chrisland University, among others.