Abuja – A Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSG) on Tuesday in Abuja called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately dissolve the governing boards of Federal Universities in the country.
Mr Bassey Etuk-Williams, the President of the group, who made the call at news conference, said that the mantra of change being preached by the President should be all encompassing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buhari had on Aug. 1, gave a directive that the governing boards of federal universities be exempted from the dissolution of all federal institutions’ governing boards.
All the stipulated boards were ordered dissolved on July 16, at the instance of the president.
According to Etuk-Williams, if the change is to be meaningful as proclaimed by the present administration, then it should be all encompassing.
Etuk-Williams said that the president should know that membership of the universities’ councils in Nigeria today were products of politicians.
He said that such politicians do lobby through their political allies to short change the interests of the educational system.
“It is true that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had an agreement with the Federal Government regarding the tenures of these councils, yet we make bold to say that the selection process for their appointments sacrifice competence on the altar of politics.
“They were giving preferences to universities among other tertiary institutions owned and managed by Federal Government,’’ he said.
Etuk-Williams therefore called on the President to quickly dissolve the present governing boards of the federal universities and reconstitute new ones while following due process.
He also urged the present administration to review the federal board appointment procedures by putting competence at the front burner, adding that it would add value to the educational system.
He said that the ASUU leadership should be more concerned about reviving the educational structure through the introduction of new curriculum.
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Etuk-Williams, however, commended the President for the directive on Treasury Single Account (TSA) which seeks to centralise all government generated revenue into one account.
According to him, such a policy would go a long way to choke leakages associated with running multiple accounts. (NAN)
