Legal scrutiny of NUC over university licensing – Part 2

Yet another attempt by NUC to set aside the judgment failed at the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division recently. The three-man Appeal Court panel in a unanimous judgment, said it found no merit in the appeal filed by Okebukola and NUC, and therefore dismissed it.

In the lead judgment, Justice Olasumbo Goodluck said she was unpersuaded by the submission of the learned counsel to the appellant that the judgment of the lower court was a nullity, which the lower court itself could set aside.

In the view of Justice Goodluck, the lower court rightly and validly declined to set aside its judgment on the reasoning that “the exceptions in the case of Abana vs, Obi” warranting the court to set aside its findings, did not exist in the matter before it.

Regarding the appellant’s submission that the originating summons filed by Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo, a layman, renders the entire process filed by the respondent a nullity, Justice Goodluck agreed with the decision of the trial court in this regard.

Quoting the trial court verbatim: “On the issue of Mr. Okonkwo, a layman appearing for and on behalf of Richmond Open University to conduct this matter-this Honourable Court is functus officio on the judgment. The case of MODE NIG LTD VS.UBA (supra) is authoritative on the point but the matter is better raised in the Court of Appeal because any further review of the judgment of this court on the 14/7/06 on this point, will amount to this Honourable Court, sitting on appeal on its judgment and I resist the temptation to do so.”

Speaking further, Justice Goodluck said: “I am unable to fault the decision of the trial court in this regard. Any attempt to upset the findings of the learned trial court in respect of the judgment given on the merit can only be considered by the Appellate Court. This case clearly does not fall under the exceptions for setting aside the judgment of the lower court. In effect, the trial court rightly dismissed the appellant’s application for setting aside its judgment.

“Accordingly, I find no merit in this application. It is hereby dismissed.” Given this background, I challenge the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to take the baton from the likes of Dr. Okonkwo who are before the courts, challenging the seeming impunity of NUC, a government agency. The process of establishing a private university in Nigeria is the most cumbersome and most capital intensive in the world.

While it takes 14 steps to register a private university in Nigeria, it takes only seven steps to do so in the United States of America. In America, you are only expected to register online through the Secretary of State’s website in the state where your university will be located. The proprietor is not expected to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to any federal government agency under whatever guise (s), to obtain licence.

In Nigeria, application form for private university costs a whopping N5 million. It costs only five hundred Rands in South Africa, which is roughly the equivalent of 43 thousand naira in Nigeria as of the time of writing this article. By conservative estimates, it costs almost one billion naira to obtain a provisional licence from the NUC to run a private university in Nigeria.

Education is undoubtedly the most liberal development avenue in the world. Historically, itinerant typists for the colonial regime and supporting staff of our commerce during the colonial days benefitted from correspondence courses with colleges abroad. The likes of Afe Babalola never attended any college or university in Nigeria. Today, he is not only a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) but the owner of ABUAD, the best private university in Nigeria.

I cannot end this article without commending Dr. Okonkwo, a layman, for going to court at huge personal cost, to challenge the heavy financial burden of licensing a private university in Nigeria. After spending hundreds of millions of naira on NUC licence, most of the private universities find it very hard to meet their obligations, including payment of staff salaries. To make ends meet, they bill students outrageously.

Finally, the situation of the private schools is compounded by the fact that they are precluded from the grants of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). Their students are also not eligible for the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). This is double jeopardy.
Concluded.
Dr. Nzomiwu is a communication expert and regular commentator on public affairs. Reactions are welcome via [email protected]