NCCE Shuts Illegal College Of Education In Gombe

The National Commission for Colleges of
Education (NCCE) has clampdown on
Lakwanjang College of Education and
Entrepreneurship, Kaltungo, Gombe State,
alleged to have been operating illegally in
the state for over two years.
A statement made available to
LEADERSHIP on Thursday in Abuja by the
Public Relations Officer, NCCE,Mallam
Garba Sulieman, said the executive
secretary of the commission, Prof Monday
Joshua, led a crack team from the NCCE
Headquarters, Abuja to raid the
institution.
He said the college was operating from a
ramshackle primary school in Gombe
State while the students informed that the
college conducts classes only in the
evenings in the premises of a primary
school at the Nasarawa area of Kaltungo
town.
It was further gathered that the College
claimed through advertisement that it
offers NCE programmes in Primary
Education Studies, Biology, Islamic
Religion studies, Christian Religion
Studies, Hausa Language, Mathematics,
Computer studies, Business Education,
Economics, Social Studies, Arabic Medium
and NCE in English.
According to him, information got to the
management of the commission that an
institution existed in Kaltungo, running
Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE)
illegally and had advertised for and
admitted unsuspecting students for two
academic sessions without any
involvement of the Joint Admissions and
Matriculations Board (JAMB).
He warned the students of the College
that any certificates obtained from the
illegal programmes would not be
recognized in Nigeria.
According to the statement, the executive
secretary, NCCE, ordered immediate
shutdown of the College for alleged
breach of the laws for the establishment
of Colleges of Education in Nigeria as
contained in the Act establishing the
commission.
Part of the statement read, “The attention
of NCCE had earlier been drawn to
unconfirmed information that an
institution existed in Kaltungo, illegally
running NCE programme. The
management of NCCE consequently put
up a team to investigate the institution
based on the information obtained.
“On Friday, 22nd January, 2016, the team
from NCCE led by the executive secretary
of the commission, including heads of
academic programmes department and
other senior staff of the commission,
visited the college on facts finding.
“The college has operated illegally,
purportedly training NCE teachers for the
past two academic sessions, without
recourse to the extant laws that should
cover its establishment and operation.
“The said Lakwanjang College of
Education and Entrepreneurship, Kaltungo,
is hereby closed down with immediate
effect. The students and parents of the
said college and the general public are to
note that the NCE programmes
purportedly run in the College have never
been accredited and the College had never
obtained approval to run the
programmes.

“Any certificates that will arise from such
illegal programmes will not be recognised
in Nigeria. This action is taken based on
the mandate of NCCE, and also to save
teacher education in Nigeria from further
ridicule,” the statement added.