​The pronouncement by the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the dissolution of the Governing Boards of all Parastatals, Agencies, Institutions and Government-owned Companies is the exercise of his constitutional power according to the Director, Information Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Willie Bassey.

He averred that there were, however, some exceptions to the President’s order.  This initially calmed the nerves of universities workers on the dissolution of the Universities’ Governing Councils.

However, another directive was released by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to the Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities vide its memo NUC/ES/138/Vol.64d/224 dated            22^nd June, 2023 on the dissolution of Boards of Federal Government parastatals, agencies and government companies.  He called the attention of Vice-Chancellors of the Federal Universities and Directors of Inter-University Centres to the Federal Ministry of Education letter ref. DE/HE/37/IV/185 and dated 21^st June, 2023; to adhere to the information contained in the directive of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on the dissolutions.

The memo called on all Vice-Chancellors for full and immediate compliance and they are to further note:

1. All scheduled Governing council are forthwith put on hold, effective

16^th June, 2023 and

2. Advert placement, before the dissolution for the replacement of

principal officers should be allowed to run their course and all

responses kept untouched pending further directives.

 

It should be noted that the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions Amendment Act 2003 otherwise called the Universities Autonomy Act 2023 as enacted by the National Assembly and signed into law on 10^th July, 2003; the composition of the Council of each Governing Council of Federal Universities under the Act remains the same as in the Principal Act, Decree No. 11 of 1993 "The Council of any University shall consist of" which now read in the Amended Act as "There shall be a Council for each of the Universities consisting of".

The University Act also stipulated the tenure of Council.  According to Section 2A brought into the Principal Act by Section 2(3) of the amended Act is a very significant new provision it provides: "The council so constituted shall have a tenure of four years from the date of its inauguration provided that where a Council is found to be incompetent and corrupt it shall be dissolved by the Visitor and a new Council shall be immediately constituted for the effective functioning of the University."

According to the act establishing the Federal University in Nigeria, the act provided a statutory tenure of governing councils of universities and for this reason they cannot be dissolved until they serve out their terms like the other boards of parastatals. It should be noted that the governing council is the highest body in the Universities when it comes to decision making, many of this which includes, and not limited to, promotions and appointment of staff including the principal officers, this state of confusion created by the dissolution has tampered with the University autonomy as prescribed in the Act.

The University System has not come out fully from the resultant events of the last nine months’ strike; many universities for now are still finding their levels and how to come out from the academic logjam.

It should be noted that many Pro-Chancellors and Chairman of Council play a lot of roles in resolving the last strike by university workers (teaching and non-teaching) this Council knows what the problem is all about and they are already finding way out of the logjam, dissolving the Council at this point will definitely jeopardise all the efforts already been put in place.

I believe Mr. President was not well guided on these dissolutions and it is not too late for him to reverse himself on the dissolution of the Universities Council.  President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration made same mistakes and reversed itself.  Universities should be autonomous, universities staff (teaching and non-teaching) should be well remunerated to reflect current cost of living, more funds should be pumped into the University system so as to enable them perform their duties of teaching, research and community services and the government should respect University autonomy which was provided for in the Universities Act.

On the endless negotiation with the universities staff union, President Tinubu should take the bull by the horn and resolve the logjam, he should revisit the Wale Babalakin’s Committee and other reports on FGN/Universities Staff 2009 re-negotiation agreement by setting up an Independent bodes comprising retired eminent Jurists and non-partisan Nigerians to come up with acceptable reports for all segments of our universities without fear or favour of a particular group in our universities so as to maintain peace and harmony for the uninterrupted academic programmes, smooth running of the university system for progress and developments.

In conclusion, there is only one ground for dissolution of a Council under the Act, that is where the Council is found guilty of corruption and incompetence.

The Visitor cannot dissolve any council without the requirement being first fulfilled and if this was done without following due process his action can be challenged by aggrieved Nigerians.  This provision of law was to put a stop to the practice of New President (Visitor) from dissolving the Federal University Council when he/she assumed office at will and for no reasons whatsoever other than to create jobs for his party men and women in the Council.

Finally, the heaven will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized their mistakes and made amendments.

 

Egberongbe Tijani Taiwo

writes from Olabisi Onabanjo University,

Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.