The African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, has secured full five-year accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) across six of its flagship programmes — a significant quality milestone for the institution led by Favtoma founder Engr. Prof. Peter Azikiwe Onwualu.
What was accredited
The NUC granted full accreditation to:
- Business Administration
- Computer Science
- Software Engineering
- Petroleum & Energy Resources Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
Accounting received a two-year interim accreditation. Coming on the heels of the NUC’s review, the outcome was widely read as validation of AUST’s quality of teaching, the strength of its laboratory infrastructure and the depth of its research output under Onwualu’s presidency.
Why it matters
Accreditation is more than a regulatory tick. For a science-and-technology university that stakes its identity on producing research-capable, employable graduates, a full five-year mandate signals that the pipeline — from curriculum to lab to outcome — meets national standards across the board. It also reinforces AUST’s positioning as a regional STEM leader, a claim underpinned by laboratory infrastructure that Onwualu has credited, in part, to African Development Bank interventions.
The milestone arrived in the same window that Onwualu was named Pro-Chancellor of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, drawing a neat line between the institution he runs and the governance reform he has been asked to lead elsewhere. Profiled alongside the news were the credentials that recur throughout his record: more than 200 publications, over 70 awards, and fellowship of both the Nigerian Academy of Engineering and the Nigerian Academy of Science.
For Favtoma, the accreditation is a quiet but telling proof point. Homegrown institutions that meet rigorous external standards are the foundation on which any credible lab-to-marketplace ambition is built. You cannot commercialise research the world does not trust — and accreditation is one way that trust is earned.