Running varsities without governing councils

LAST week, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) again condemned the dissolution of the governing councils of federal universities by the Federal Government, describing the action as illegal. The union was reacting to the failure of the Bola Tinubu administration, which dissolved the governing councils of all the federal universities in the country in June last year, shortly after assuming office, to reconstitute the councils of the 52 federal universities which, going by the extant law establishing universities, are the highest finance and administrative decision-making organs of the universities.  President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, reiterated that the dissolution of governing councils prematurely was not only an attack on the university system but also totally contravened the autonomy of public universities as enshrined in the Universities’ Miscellaneous Act. According to him, the idea of  vice-chancellors running the universities in conjunction with the Minister of Education due to the absence of the councils, is illegal.

Vice-chancellors and ministers, he lamented, had effectively taken over the functions of the councils through illegal contract awards, approval of promotions, and recruitments without due process. He said: “ASUU does not only condemn these anomalies in strong terms, it also again calls on the Federal Government  to reverse the dissolution of the councils whose tenures were yet to expire and replace those whose tenures had already expired at the period of the dissolution.” The ASUU president advised the  affected vice-chancellors to stop taking matters meant for governing councils to the Minister of Education, adding that the continuous absence of the councils had great consequences on the future of Nigerian universities. We concur.

Apprised of the critical role of governing councils in the effective management of the university system, the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo, in July 2003, signed the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act 2003 enacted by the National Assembly, into law. According to the Act, governing councils shall have a tenure of four years from the date of their inauguration. The Act also provides that where a council is found to be incompetent and corrupt, it shall be dissolved by the Visitor and a new council immediately constituted for the effective functioning of the university. The Tinubu administration has however paid no heed to the law, leading to  protests by stakeholders, particularly members of the academia and the various unions. At its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State in February, ASUU expressed dismay over what it described as “the continued attack and erosion of autonomy of public universities, as enshrined in the Universities Miscellaneous Act, through illegal dissolution of Governing Councils.” In the communique issued at the end of the meeting, the union flayed the connivance between vice-chancellors and the Federal Ministry of Education in running the universities illegally. It accused them of taking over the functions of the councils through illegal contract awards, approval of promotions, and recruitments without following due process. It said: “NEC condemns these anomalies in strong terms. It calls on the state and federal governments to reverse themselves where Governing Councils were dissolved without serving their terms, and to reconstitute Councils whose tenures have expired.”

We do not see how ASUU can be faulted in this matter. Given the crucial roles that universities are supposed to play in the socio-economic ecosystem, it is indeed a tragedy that federal universities have been in virtual limbo, run as fiefdoms since June last year. While the power of the Tinubu-led Federal Government to dissolve the councils in accordance with the statute books is ordinarily not contested, it is apparent that it did so for less than altruistic reasons. Otherwise, it would not have left such a huge vacuum in their administration for more than eight months.

By failing to reconstitute the councils of the affected universities, the government has effectively crippled their operations and, in this regard, it is strange that the Ministry of Education has kept mute in the face of this glaring anomaly. Is it that the ugly situation is not concerning enough to warrant a statement? How can universities be left without such a crucial administrative organ? Are they supposed to run without the body of ideas and decisions that the law envisages for them? Just how can the universities move forward with vice chancellors operating as dictators?

What kind of government dissolves governing councils whimsically, turning them to a means of political control? A government supposedly working to grant underprivileged Nigerians greater access to education while at the same time robbing universities of governing councils is the definition of confusion. If the Federal Government recognises the importance of the Federal Executive Council, why is it giving federal universities a short shrift by wilfully denying them of the statutory governing councils? At the end of the day, the decision must be made where Nigeria is going to be a functional state or not. Time and again, we have sounded notes of warning on the near total lack of consequences for egregious violations of the law by both state and non-state actors. Things would not be so bad in the country if there were consequences, and very stringent ones at that, for such grievous violations of the law as this one. We are in full agreement with ASUU and other bodies calling on President Tinubu to put an immediate end to the regime of abnormality that it has imposed on the federal universities since June 2023. It must act immediately.

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