President Muhammad Buhari has announced the reconstitution of the Governing Boards of all federal government-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
Also, all the boards and parastatals under the federal Ministry of Education had been reconstituted, according to the president who spoke through the Executive Secretary of the National University’s Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu.
In his message during the 26th convocation and 35th founder’s day of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna Niger State on Wednesday, the president said that the boards and parastatals’ reconstitution was to reposition them for more efficiency.
Buhari in the message read by the NUC Executive Secretary of the NUC said that the Minister of Education, Alhaji Adamu Adamu, “will release details of the reconstituted and those appointed into the boards at the appropriate time.
“We will release details of the reconstitution and those appointed into the boards at the appropriate time.”
The president however indicted some specialized universities in Nigeria for what he described as ‘‘failure to operate within the mandate given to them.’’
He therefore directed all federal universities of technology to immediately return to their former mandates, declaring also that as from the 2018 academic session those that failed to comply would no longer receive federal government’s funding.
“The National University’s Commission, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board are to meet soon to ensure full compliance”, the president said, adding that the new order was to demonstrate his administration’s importance attached to specialized institutions.
Buhari expressed regrets that most conventional universities and specialized ones have failed to live within specified dictates of their establishment especially the science and technology based, adding that science and technology education are catalysts for national development and would continue to give the sector “Fullest support”.
Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Musbau Akanji, had expressed dissatisfaction that the establishment of universities of technology by the federal government had not attained its objective as a result of poor funding by the government.
Other reasons the universities of tchnology have failed to live up to expectations, Akanji said was because the government did not realize that “you cannot use the same quantum of fund to train graduates of Engineering and that of Humanities.”
A total of 3, 734 students from different departments and disciplines graduated at the convocation. 2, 788 received First Degrees, 637 Masters Degree, 35 PhDs and the remaining 274 got Post Graduate Diplomas. 34 others came out with First Class.