AAU Disowns Satellite Campuses, Calls On Security Agencies To Arrest, Prosecute Operators
FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Authorities of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State have called on security agencies to arrest and prosecute any operator of satellite campuses as the state owned tertiary institution has not given permission to run any satellite campus on its behalf, either directly or indirectly.
The university’s Head of Corporate Communications and Protocol, Otunba Mike Ade Aladenika, who disclosed this Thursday in a statement in Ekpoma and made available to newsmen in Benin City, vehemently denied a recent report in a national newspaper, credited to the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC), alleging the existence of illegal satellite campuses being run in the name of the university and awarding certificates.
While applauding the reported NUC decision to “investigate the proprietors and recover illegal fees and charges on subscribers”, Otunba Aladenika charged the body to go all out to arrest and swiftly prosecute anyone found to be running such illegal campuses.
The spokesman declared that the school’s Senate has neither approved any Satellite campus anywhere nor approved that certificates be awarded in the name of the university to anyone emerging as “product” from such illegal campuses.
He added: “We have continued to emphasize this. We are glad that by reportedly using the tag “illegal” for such satellite campuses, the NUC is on the same page with us. Anything that the university has not approved is illegal, null and void. Ambrose Alli University is a respected institution of over 40 years old which has produced world class alumni. Its current student population stands at more than 36,000.”
Continuing, Otunba Aladenika remarked that it must therefore be a strange phenomenon for the institution which towers so high to be “milling certificates” through illegal satellite campuses.
He said: “We cannot wait to see the outcome of the reported NUC “further investigations” on these reported “illegal satellite campuses.”
While assuring alumni, parents, students and all stakeholders that the current management of the university under the leadership of Prof. Sonnie Adagbonyin is more determined than ever before to take the institution to greater heights, Otunba Aladenika said that it was quite satisfying as the NUC has come out strong against institutions, both in Nigeria and abroad, issuing fake certificates.
The spokesman noted that with the gains the university has made of recent in research and innovation, it would only soar higher.