By Ndey Sowe
Dr. Gibril Jaw, the Chief Executive Officer of National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority (NAQAA), has strongly denied reports that his institution has unlawfully rejected Senegambia College operational license, describing the allegation as maliciously and unfounded.
Dr. Jaw was speaking to journalists on Tuesday October 23rd 2018, at a press conference held at their office’s conference hall. The reason for the press conference according to Dr. Jaw, is to set the record straight regarding the allegation made against them, over the Senegambia College license by the Freedom Online Newspaper.
“We felt it paramount to call this press conference with the view of clarifying the Senegambia College License issue. People have read the article published by certain media outlets. Therefore, it is paramount for them to know the other side of the story too,” he told the journalists.
NAQAA he said, is responsible for ensuring quality and setting good national training and educational standards, and to provide accreditation or where necessary, revoke a license organisations fall below the national minimum standards.
He described NAQAA as a meritocratic institution that does not know nobody, and said standards are not adjustable to suit the needs of friends and relatives.
“As far as one deals with educational training, one has to abide by the national standards. When we develop these standards, all stakeholders are represented and included. Therefore, once these standard are validated and approved, then we become the custodians of those standards and make sure that training institutions adhere to them,” he emphasized.
Commenting on the issues of Senegambia College, he said the issue came about because of one Tony Johnson; that the institution was registered by two young Gambians. On the reason why they were denied license, Dr. Jaw said it was for a different reason; that Tony Johnson could not be trusted for some reason; that as part of their quality assurance requirement, there must be financial sustainability. “He who can collect fees can at least keep one year’s salary for his staff, in his account, with a Bank guarantee. We did not know him with any landed property in the country. Should we allow him to run the School and put the students in critical situations? A mistake was made and NAQAA is not prepared to allow it to happen again,” he said.
NAQAA CEO told journalists that so many people have been used to influence NAQAA in different ways but they have stood by their principles, because their standards are non-negotiable and their integrity is not for sale.
