Education: Tinubu appoints 111 Governing Councils for tertiary institutions
The Federal Government has constituted the governing councils of 111 federal tertiary institutions in the country.
The this include appointments of at least 555 persons to serve as Pro-chancellors/Chairmen and members of Governing Boards of 111 Federal universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
The nominees were selected by the Federal Ministry of Education and assented to by President Bola Tinubu.
An advertorial signed by Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education Mrs. Esther Didi Walson-Jack showed the appointment of five members for each of the institutions which includes chairperson and four other members.
Mrs Walson-Jack said the inauguration and retreat for the Governing Councils will take place on Thursday, May 30 and Friday, May 31, 2024, at the National Universities Commission, Abuja. Both events will commence at 9:00am daily.”
The appointments come days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities had threatened to embark on another strike over the non reconstitution of the governing council..
A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yusuf Alli; former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Peter Okebukola, and labour activist, Issa Aremu, are among the individuals appointed to lead the councils of various academic institutions.
The former INEC Chairman will serve as the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS), Messrs Olanipekun, Alli, Okebukola and Aremu will chair the councils for the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State, and Federal College of Education (Technical), Keana, Nasarawa State.
Others on the list include a former Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, who will chair the governing council of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); Joy Emordi, a former Senator, who will chair the council of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, Imo State, and a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, who will ead the council of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State
The immediate-past Executive Secretary of NUC, Adamu Rasheed, who resigned from office a few months into his second term in office, was also named to chair the governing council of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo, Benue State.
This is coming few days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatened to strike nationwide over the non-constitution of governing councils for universities months after they were dissolved.
In June, NUC dissolved the governing councils of all federal universities after a directive from President Bola Tinubu.
But months after the move, ASUU insists that the dissolution is “illegal”, claiming that the move has “paved the way for all manner of illegalities in the Nigerian University System”.
“ASUU shall do all within its powers to ensure that the dignity of the academia is fully restored in line with practices obtainable in forward-looking climes,” ASUU’s president Emmanuel Osodeke said in a Tuesday press conference. See the list bellow.
