Akande, Gawuna, others make new list of governing councils of universities, polytechnics

Three weeks after President Bola Tinubu ordered the review of the list of members of the governing councils and boards of federal tertiary institutions, the government, on Friday night, released the new list.

In the new list, prominent leaders and members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) including its pioneer National Chairman and former Governor of Osun State, Adebisi Akande; APC’s Governorship Candidate in the 2023 general election in Kano State, Nasir Gawuna, among others, are appointed.

In the old list, Muhammed Mana was announced as the Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Ibadan but he has now been replaced by Mr Akande. Similarly, Mr Gawuna has replaced Udo Udoma as the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Bayern University, Kano.

Also noticeable on the list is the appointment of Lanre Tejuoso, a former Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) who was appointed a member of the Council of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, in the former list, has been named the Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Sarwan Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State, in the new list.

Announcement

According to a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, General Services, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the release of the list followed the approval of the President.

A total of 560 individuals were appointed to the governing councils: five members each, including a chairman for 51 federal universities, 24 federal colleges of education, and 37 federal polytechnics.

According to the statement, the selection of the chosen individuals is aimed at ensuring the effective management of Nigerian tertiary institutions across the country.

Why list review?

The directive by Mr Tinubu that the former list should be reviewed followed complaints by many concerned parties including academicians and members of the ruling party over the allegation of lopsidedness.

Others also accused the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, of populating the list with indigenes of his home state of Adamawa with about 32 persons on the list while other states such as Oyo and Niger had one and four persons respectively on the list.

The federal government-owned institutions have been without governing councils since the president’s directive for their dissolution in June 2023.

ASUU, in May, issued the government a two–week ultimatum to reinstate councils whose tenures were yet to expire as of the time of the dissolution order and reconstitute those whose tenures had elapsed.

It described Mr Tinubu’s dissolution of the university councils as illegal, adding that it has paved the way for a series of illegalities on the various campuses.