FG makes a move towards addressing one of ASUU’s demands
Four days into the one-month warning strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the federal government has made a move towards addressing one of the striking union’s demands.
On Thursday February 17, 2022, the government announced the setting up of 21 panels to draft whitepapers, listing the reports on visitations earlier sent to Nigerian tertiary institutions for the review of activities in the various tertiary institutions across the country.
According to a statement by Ben Goong, Director, press and public relations at the Ministry of Education, the Education minister, Adamu Adamu, constituted Ten(10) panels for 36 Universities; Six(6) for 25 polytechnics, and Five(5) for 21 Colleges of Education.
The statement also noted that the panels, to be inaugurated in the coming days, are given two weeks from the date of inauguration to submit their reports.
Recall that ASUU had demanded earlier for the Federal Government to release whitepapers on the reports of the number of visitation panels constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2021, to visit 88 tertiary institutions across the Nation.
They complained that after many months of the submission of reports to the Government, They are yet to release the whitepapers.
While declaring the warning strike on Monday, ASUU demanded for an immediate release of the whitepapers to address the lapses in the administration of Federal Universities in the Country. The panels, which were constituted based on ASUU’s request, had submitted their reports to the Education minister since August, 2021.
While receiving the report, Mr Adamu, who was represented by the minister of state for Education, Chukuwuemeka Nwajiuba, assured ASUU that the government will give adequate attention to the recommendations contained in the reports.
Parts of the visitation panel’s term of references (TORs) in April 2021, was to review the performance of each institution assigned in the area of “governance, academic standards, quality assurance, management of finances, relationships between the management and the staff, as well as the structures of the schools’ infrastructure and instructional materials.”
The visitation panels were also asked to look into the institutions management of finances, compliance to procurement laws and investigate how the grants and loans meant for specific projects are applied.
