The Federal Government’s plan to dissolve the Governing Councils of all federal universities across the nation has been criticised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The union argued that the action was detrimental and a significant setback for the expansion and advancement of higher education in Nigeria.
This was said by Dr. Chris Yilgwan, the union’s chairman at the University of Jos, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Jos.
According to NAN, the National institutions Commission (NUC) announced the dissolution of the boards of all other government organisations and parastatals, as well as the governing councils of all federal institutions, on June 22.
Yilgwan, who condemned the move, insisted that such a trend, if allowed to continue, would cripple the university system.
According to Yilgwan, the dissolution contravened the Act establishing federal universities, adding that it will stagnate the progress of the institutions.
“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 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 said.
He appealed to the government at all levels to allow the universities to operate in accordance with the law establishing them.