Director’s Profile

Ikani
Director's Profile

Architect Ikani, started his educational career in 1972 from LGEA/RCMT School, Okpachala, Idah, Kogi State, and  holds a National Diploma (ND) of Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State, in Civil Engineering with Upper Credit in 1985 and later obtained a B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in Architecture in 1989 and 1991, respectively, of  the University of Jos (UNIJOS), Jos, Plateau State.

He had a brief stint in the private sector and specifically with Ibrahim Ahmed and Associates, Zone 2, Wuse, Abuja) from 1992 to first quarter of 1993, as Project Architect in the Architectural Firm and later joined the services of the National Universities Commission in March, 1993 as an Academic Planning Officer 1.

He was then designated as the Discipline Officer for Environmental Sciences Discipline and Programme Officer for Architecture in Nigerian universities and rose through the ranks to become Deputy Director, Resource and Strategic Planning in 2011, as well as the Coordinator, University System Annual Review Meetings (USARM).

In the course of his services in the Commission, Arc. Ikani had worked and traversed the Department of Academic Planning between 1993 to 2011 and to then Department of Open and Distance Education as Head of Cross Border Education Division until his deployment in 2017 to the Directorate of Accreditation as Head of Part-time Accreditation Division.  

He became the Head of Programme Accreditation Division in 2019, a position he held until his recent elevation to Acting Director of Accreditation at the National Universities Commission.          

He has held so many ad-hoc positions in the course of his public service career, including Chairman, NUC Committee that drew up the Proposal on Environmental Management Technology Programme for Nigerian Universities  in 1994; Secretary,  NUC Committee that developed Guidelines for Drawing up an Academic Brief 1994; Secretary, Committee on Monitoring of Private Universities (COMPU), 2003-2009;  Membership of other NUC Committees such as Standing Committee on Movement to Abuja (SCOMA), 1994-1995 and Environmental Maintenance Committee (EMC), June,1996-September, 1996.

The  new Acting Director, Accreditation, had also served as NUC representative  in the  Governing  Councils of Kwararafa University, Wukari, Taraba State from 2007-Date; NUC representative on the Visitation Panel to Bells University of Technology, Ota, (January-February, 2012); NUC representative on the Governing Council of Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State (2012-Date); Member, NIA Abuja Practice Sub-Committee (2014-2016) and Secretary, Presidential Visitation Panel to University of Abuja (April-June, 2021).

He has attended several workshops, seminars, conferences and short courses within and outside Nigeria.   

Arc. Ikani, Born on 4th January, 1964 at Iddah, Kogi State is currently a Chartered Architect, a Full Member of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration,  is married  with Children.

Vision

To be an effective organ of the Commission responsible for ensuring compliance to quality assurance in the Nigerian University System (NUS) and to assure and sustain the quality of academic programmes and institutional services in Nigerian universities.

Mission

 To ensure quality of academic programmes in compliance with approved Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) and effective control of resources and other quality assurance instruments required for Nigerian universities to meet national needs and global competiveness.

Mandate & Functions
The functions of the Department are as follows:

  • Coordination of accreditation visits to academic programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in all Nigerian Universities and degree awarding institutions.
  • Coordination of institutional accreditation in the Nigerian University System;
  • Coordination of the development of new instruments used for accreditation exercises;
  • Periodic review of the instruments used for programme and institutional accreditation in Nigerian universities and degree-awarding institutions;
  • Promotion of institutional culture of quality assurance and self analysis by encouraging universities to develop strong internal quality assurance mechanism and conduct internal mock accreditation exercises;
  • Responding to inquiries and advising the National Universities Commission on all issues that relate to accreditation of academic programmes in Nigerian universities;
  • Obtaining annually, the list of approved Full-Time/Part-Time Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Distance Learning academic programmes from the Department of Academic Standards to determine programmes that are mature for accreditation;
  • Maintaining a database of professors in Nigerian universities and update same annually;

Directorate’s Divisions

Programme Accreditation Division

Division is headed by Dr. (Mrs) Chinelo Nwosu (Deputy Director)

Units

  1. Federal Universities Accreditation Unit
  2. State Universities Accreditation Unit
  3. Private Universities Accreditation Unit

The NUC is empowered by law to lay down Minimum Academic Standards (MAS) for universities in the Federation and to accredit their degrees programmes. This led to the preparation, with the use of experts, of the Minimum Academic Standards for the 13 disciplines taught in Nigerian Universities in 1989. The disciplines are; Administration, Agriculture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Education, Engineering and Technology, Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sciences, Social Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.

Following the development of the MAS, the following documents were also produced;

  1. Manual for accreditation procedures for academic programmes in Nigerian universities;
  2. Self-Study form (NUC/SSF)
  3. Programme Evaluation Form (NUC/PEF)
  4. Accreditation Panel Report Form (NUC/APRF)
  5. Accreditation Re-visitation Form (NUC/ARVF)

The MAS served as a reference document for programme accreditation until 2004, when the Commission employed the services of distinguished professors to review the MAS and the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) was produced.

Accreditation of degree programmes by the NUC is a system of evaluating academic programmes in Nigerian universities to ensure that they meet the provisions of the MAS documents.

The objectives of accreditation of academic programmes are to;

  1. Ensure that the provisions of the MAS are attained, maintained and enhanced
  2. Assure employers and other members of the community that Nigerian graduates of all academic programmes have attained an acceptable level of competency in their areas of specialization
  3. Certify to the international community that the programmes offered in Nigerian Universities are of high standards and their graduates are adequate for employment and further studies.

FUNCTIONS OF UNDERGRADUATE ACCREDITATION DIVISION

  • Periodic review of the instruments used for the accreditation of Full-Time/Part-Time Undergraduate, and Distance Learning programmes
  • Coordination of the development of new instruments for Undergraduate Accreditation
  • Coordination of the accreditation of Full-Time/Part-Time Undergraduate and Distance Learning academic programmes.
  • Obtain annually, the list of approved Full-Time/Part-Time Undergraduate and Distance Learning academic programmes from the Department of Academic Standards to determine the list of programmes mature for accreditation.
  • Maintaining a database of Professors in the Nigerian universities and update same annually.
  • Prepare monthly and annual reports on all the activities of the Division.
  • Promotion of institutional culture of quality and self analysis by encouraging universities to conduct internal mock accreditation exercise.
  • Responding to inquiries and advising the National Universities Commission on all issues that relate to accreditation of undergraduate academic programmes in Nigerian universities.
  • To ensure that the Institutional vision, mission and strategic goals of Nigerian universities are clear, realistic and also aligned with development agenda at the local, national and international levels.
  1. a)Pre-Accreditation Activities:
    • Drawing up list of academic programmes to be accredited
    • Compilation of list of Panel Chairmen/Members, time-tabling and budgeting
    • Organizing the accreditation coordination meeting for panel chairmen and members in a simulation workshop
  1. b)Post Accreditation Activities:
  • Analyzing Accreditation Reports (Technical and Administrative).
  • Ranking of programmes and universities, based on their accreditation status.
  • Publishing of accreditation status of programmes.
  • Issuance of certificates to programmes that earned Full and Interim accreditation results
Part-Time Programme Accreditation Division

Division is headed by Mr. A. A. Ingawa (Deputy Director)

Affiliate Accreditation Division

Division is headed by Engr. Abraham Chundusu (Deputy Director)

Units

  1. Federal Universities Accreditation Unit
  2. State Universities Accreditation Unit
  3. Private Universities Accreditation Unit

The Division was created from the extant Undergraduate Accreditation Division on the 23rd July 2014 to handle the accreditation of degree programmes in Affiliate Institutions.

During the System-wide Programme Audit of May, 2007, universities were asked to declare all forms of affiliations entered into. Prior to the exercise, 85 non-degree awarding institutions including Colleges of Education, Seminaries/Theological Institutions and polytechnics were identified. Information obtained from some of the institutions during the May 2007 Programme Audit, showed that the affiliation had been running for more than 10years in most cases, and about 50,0000 graduates had been produced. This generated concern for the Commission as the Affiliations were not regulated.

Comprehensive resource assessments were conducted by the Commission in September 2007, to formalise the relationship with the following main aim. I) to enable the Commission regulate the activities of the institutions; and ii) to periodically undertake accreditation of the programme for quality assurance.

The following instruments are used for accreditation of Affiliate Institutions:

  1. Manual for accreditation procedures for academic programmes in Nigerian universities;
  2. Self-Study form (NUC/SSF)
  3. Programme Evaluation Form (NUC/PEF)
  4. Accreditation Panel Report Form (NUC/APRF)
  5. Accreditation Re-visitation Form (NUC/ARVF)

FUNCTIONS AFFILIATE INSTITUTION DIVISION

  • Coordination of the accreditation of Full-Time/Part-Time programmes in Affiliate Institutions.
  • Obtain annually, the list of approved Full-Time/Part-Time programmes of the Colleges from the Department of Academic Standards to determine the list of programmes mature for accreditation.
  • Prepare monthly and annual reports on all the activities of the Division.
  • Responding to inquiries and advising the National Universities Commission on all issues that relate to accreditation of academic programmes in Affiliate Institutions.
  1. a) Pre-Accreditation Activities:
      • Drawing up list of academic programmes to be accredited
      • Compilation of list of Panel Chairmen/Members, time-tabling and budgeting
      • Organizing the accreditation coordination meeting for panel chairmen and members.
  1. b) Post Accreditation Activities:
      • Analyzing Accreditation Reports (Technical and Administrative).
      • Ranking of programmes and universities, based on their accreditation status.
      • Publishing of accreditation status of programmes.
      • Issuance of certificates to programmes that earned Full and Interim accreditation results.
Institutional Accreditation Division

Division is headed by Mal. Adam I. Muhammad (Deputy Director)

Units

  1. Federal Universities Accreditation Unit
  2. State Universities Accreditation Unit
  3. Private Universities Accreditation Unit

The Division was created from the extant Undergraduate Accreditation Division on the 23rd July 2014 to handle the accreditation of degree programmes in Affiliate Institutions.

During the System-wide Programme Audit of May, 2007, universities were asked to declare all forms of affiliations entered into. Prior to the exercise, 85 non-degree awarding institutions including Colleges of Education, Seminaries/Theological Institutions and polytechnics were identified. Information obtained from some of the institutions during the May 2007 Programme Audit, showed that the affiliation had been running for more than 10years in most cases, and about 50,0000 graduates had been produced. This generated concern for the Commission as the Affiliations were not regulated.

Comprehensive resource assessments were conducted by the Commission in September 2007, to formalise the relationship with the following main aim. I) to enable the Commission regulate the activities of the institutions; and ii) to periodically undertake accreditation of the programme for quality assurance.

The following instruments are used for accreditation of Affiliate Institutions:

  1. Manual for accreditation procedures for academic programmes in Nigerian universities;
  2. Self-Study form (NUC/SSF)
  3. Programme Evaluation Form (NUC/PEF)
  4. Accreditation Panel Report Form (NUC/APRF)
  5. Accreditation Re-visitation Form (NUC/ARVF)