Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it is completely wrong for the Federal Government to appoint somebody who is not at least a first-degree holder into the governing councils of any federal university.
The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke made this position known in an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune, adding that the same rule is applicable to various state governments as regards their respective universities.
According to him, the agreement between Federal Government and ASUU is that any person to be appointed into governing councils of any federal university must qualify to be a member of congregation of that university and that means be a holder of at least first degree.
The reason for this, he explained, is that it is difficult for somebody to effectively superintendent over a system he or she does not have a taste of as a student let alone understands.
He said ASUU is completely disagreed with the use of political considerations and party affiliation to appoint people into what he called sensitive positions such as governing councils of universities.
He said the observation of the union is that many of the appointees were usually either past political office holders or party loyalists as if the office is reserved for the politicians.
He said in other climes, particularly the developed countries, governing councils of universities are usually made up of people who can add value to the system.
“Those are people with integrity and wealth of experience and who have ideas to contribute to the growth and development of the university system and not those whose sole interest is how to take from the system, by putting pressure on the vice-chancellors and management for one contract or the other,” he stressed.
He said if the country is continued to go in this direction, the university education and the economy by extension will continue to lag behind in the comity of prosperous countries.
Prof Osodeke, however, pointed out that ASUU at the moment is reviewing lists of people who were newly appointed into governing council of various federal universities so as to identify those who are not qualified for the position for the federal government to withdraw their membership.
He said ASUU would certainly make public its findings when through with the investigations and would ensure the federal government do the needful even before then.
Source: Nigerian Tribune