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Software developed to tackle plagiarism

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By Akintola Timothy

TETFUND steps up digitalization of projects to curb intellectual theft.

The Educational sector has been so critically ravaged with the menace of intellectual theft and as a part of numerous efforts put in place to tackle this academic problem within universities in Nigeria. The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) have recently developed a software to enhance the fight against intellectual theft in research works. The committee explained that this development would help improve originality in research works. Professor Samuel Edomitekumo stated that the software, named Eaglescan, was developed off the collaboration between the Committee of Vice Chancellors and the directors of Information and Communications Technology in six universities.

While this menace is still prevalent in arguably all tertiary institutions, the Tertiary Institution Trust Fund (TETFund) has also stepped up its efforts by the digitization of projects in higher institutions. Recall former Executive of TETFund, Professor Sulaiman Bogoro, while still in office, disclosed that there were plans in place for the digitalization of libraries across all tertiary institutions in the country, in a bid to curb plagiarism carried out by researchers. This digitalization project, driven by the concerns for storage, accessibility and tackling intellectual theft, Professor Bogoro noted that the digitalization of different thesis, universities and libraries would ensure easy access among researchers. This project is set to digitalize the theses of master’s and PhD levels across all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Over 60% of undergraduates’ projects have been plagiarized.

Several reports indicate how deep the menace of plagiarism has dug deep into the educational sector. Professor Yakubu Ochefu, the Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors in Nigerian Universities recalled a scenario of student plagiarizing previously published research. Professor Peter Okebusola, former Executive Secretary of NUC, criticizing the increasing level of academic corruption, stated as far back as in 2019 that over 60 percent of academic research done by undergraduates were plagiarized. He also stated that 15-20 percent of theses done by master’s students were also plagiarized and 8 percent for PhD students.

As a result of the numerous cases of plagiarism that had been detected in Nigerian tertiary institutions over the years, the committee of Vice Chancellors worried about the propagation of this menace, discovered that numerous students, rather than stealing from the global database, were indulging in this menace amongst themselves. It was noticed that there was a crisscrossed pattern where students from a tertiary institution copy the works of students from other institutions. In addressing this situation, a global app to detect similarities in texts, Turnitin, was conceived. Whilst the Turnitin platform signed a licensing contract with Nigerian tertiary institutions, it failed to overtly provide the needed result in curbing plagiarism. Discussing the discrepancy with the Turnitin platform, Ochefu noted that the platform would have become successful, if students plagiarized global databases.

230 tertiary institutions have commenced usage of Eaglescan.

The Eaglescan platform possesses a plagiarism checker, local or global repository document comparison, peer review similarity index, grammar checker language support and abstract validation and according to Ochefu, the platform is suitable for students across every tertiary institution. Data, as of June 2022 indicates that over 230 institutions have commenced usage of the software, 57 being higher institutions and over 4,000 subscribers. Also, indexed documents have increased to over 790,000 and over 5,800 repositories being made. Ochefu however appealed to the tertiary institutions to increase their efforts in uploading these projects, so that Eaglescan would have a huge database. He further noted that anti-plagiarism platforms like this would improve the quality of research among Nigerian students.

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, speaking at the inauguration of Eaglescan in Abuja, stated that plagiarism was also a facet of corruption, noting that the Federal Government was invested in supporting initiatives that would improve integrity in higher institutions and the society at large. Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education also stated that the Eaglescan platform would aid the facilitation of the expected quality for research in higher institutions. Abubakar Rasheed, Executive Secretary of NUC, also commenting on the development of this software, emphasized the necessity for institutionalizing anti-plagiarism policies, which will encompass the different facets of plagiarism across all tertiary institutions in the country.

Development of Eaglescan software causes mixed reactions among students.

Sandy Onor, the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Higher Education asserted that the development of this software will curb the challenges of academic research authentication, as validation processes will be duly implemented to review students’ research. Professor Isaq Oloyede, Registrar of JAMB also appealed that this software must be a national repository to further create subscription opportunities for all institutions across the country. TETFund also stated that research proposals of scholars/lecturers would also undergo anti-plagiarism checkers before funding is assigned. However, there have been mixed reactions among students. While some lauded this development, others have questioned the necessity of this platform, regarding plagiarism as a global phenomenon.


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