President Tinubu has approved the appointments of 555 persons to serve as Chairmen and members of governing councils of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Indications are rife that Academic Staff Union of Universities’ threat of a strike over non constitution of the councils may have been successfully resolved.
Except for issues around its revitalisation arrears.
This list of the constituted governing councils was released on Saturday by the Federal Ministry of Education.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who released the statement containing the list, stated that inauguration and retreat of the councils would hold on May 30 and 31, 2024.
She 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, 26 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja. Both events will commence at 9:00am daily.”
The list contained names of technocrats, politicians and traditional rulers for 50 universities, 37 polytechnics, and 24 colleges of education.
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, the National Universities Commission (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.
