The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has criticized the Federal Government’s decision to dissolve the Governing Councils of all federal institutions nationwide. The union said the action was detrimental and a significant setback for expanding and advancing higher education in Nigeria.
Dr. Chris Yilgwan, the union chairman at the University of Jos, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Jos.
According to NAN, the National Universities Commission (NUC) made an announcement. The announcement stated the dissolution of the boards of all other government organizations and parastatals. It also included the governing councils of all federal institutions. This announcement was made on June 22.
Yilgwan, who denounced the action, emphasized that if this pattern were to persist, it would destroy the academic system.
Yilgwan asserts that the dissolution violated the Act of creating federal universities and will impede the institutions’ development.
According to him,
“The recent dissolution of the governing councils of federal universities by the National Universities Commission does not conform with the Miscellaneous Act of 2003 as amended.
“The Act provided a statutory tenure of governing councils of universities and so they cannot be dissolved at will like other boards.
“The governing council is the highest decision-making body of every university, and once it is dissolved without an immediate replacement, it stalls every major decision in the university.
“So, we consider the dissolution as inimical to the progress of the university system and call on the federal government to rescind its decision.”
He made an appeal to all levels of government to permit the universities to function in conformity with the law that established them.
cc: Vanguard Ng
