President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointments of at least 555 persons to serve as Pro-chancellors/Chairmen and members of the Governing Boards of 111 federal universities, polytechnics, and Colleges of Education.
He assented to a list of nominees selected by the Ministry of Education and signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack.
Each of the boards has a chairman and four other members.
Walson-Jack said in an advertorial that “The inauguration and retreat for the Governing Councils will take place on Thursday, May 30, and Friday, May 31, 2024, at the National Universities Commission, 26 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja. Both events will commence at 9:00 am daily.”
The Presidency confirmed that the list emanated from the Ministry of Education.
President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said on Saturday: “This is from the Federal Ministry of Education…they make the nominations and forward them to the President to sign. But they are at liberty to release it from their end.”
The appointments came days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities threatened to embark on another strike, potentially disrupting the academic calendar and causing further setbacks in the country’s higher education sector.
The union, on Tuesday, decried the failure of the Federal Government to appoint Governing Councils for federal universities.
The union also faulted what it described as the nonchalant attitude of the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to matters about academics in federal universities.
The body of academics, during a briefing at the University of Abuja, also faulted the 35 percent salary increment for professors and the 25 percent salary increment for other academics in the university system.
