President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of members into the governing councils and boards of federal government-owned tertiary institutions.
The appointment was disclosed in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, General Services office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Nnamdi Mbaeri on Friday, June 14.
The appointment is coming a month after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatened to embark on a nationwide strike over the federal government’s failure to meet its demands, one of which includes the reconstitution of the governing council and board for tertiary institutions.
Following this threat, The ICIR reported that the federal government appointed 555 people to serve as pro-chancellors, chairmen, and members of governing boards of 111 federal universities, polytechnics, and Colleges of Education.
Conversely, these appointments came under heavy criticism, which prompted President Tinubu to later order a review of the list, as he cited concerns about the lack of federal character in the nominations.
Commenting on the latest approval, Mbaeri, said that the approval was given for effective management of Nigerian tertiary institutions across the country.
In the fresh list, Tinubu appointed Bisi Akande, former interim national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to chair the University of Ibadan’s governing council, and Wole Olanipekun, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as the chairman of the University of Lagos council.
Others are Isa Yuguda, a former governor of Bauchi, who will chair the National Open University’s governing council; Siyan Oyeweso as chairman of the Obafemi Awolowo University’s council; Adebayo Shittu for David Umahi University of Medicine in Ebonyi State; and Muiz Banire and Florence Ita Giwa, who have been appointed to lead the councils of the Federal University of Transportation in Katsina state and the Federal Polytechnic in Ugep, Cross River state, respectively.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at jameskennyogunyale@gmail or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames | LinkedIn: Kehinde Ogunyale