By Mo Hanif
In a significant development, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the newly approved university governing councils announced by President Bola Tinubu. The union claims that the list predominantly features "retired politicians" rather than technocrats, which raises concerns about the future of higher education in Nigeria.
ASUU's national president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, voiced his discontent in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, stating that the new composition is even more concerning than its predecessor. "Go and look at the list again, you will see that most of them are retired politicians. They are honorable this and honorable that. What does that tell us?" Osodeke remarked. He emphasized that such appointments reflect poorly on the state of the country's educational governance.
Osodeke further argued that Nigeria cannot achieve genuine development in its universities if they continue to be managed in this manner. "We can’t run our universities like this if we truly want genuine development to take place," he said. The ASUU president criticized the practice of appointing politicians to the governing councils of educational institutions, suggesting that it hinders real progress.
Previously, ASUU had contended that it was illegal for the federal government to establish new councils when the previous ones, dissolved over ten months ago, had not yet completed their tenures as mandated by the University Act. This act, ASUU argued, was the legal basis for the initial constitution of the councils.
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