President Tinubu appoints at least 555 individuals to the positions of Pro-chancellor/Chairman and members of the Governing Board members for 111 Federal Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education across the nation. Four members and a chairman would be appointed to each of the institutions according to an advertisement on PUNCH Online and signed by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack..

According to her, the National Universities Commission, located at 26 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, will host the Governing Councils’ retreat and inauguration on Thursday, May 30, and Friday, May 31, 2024. Both events are scheduled to commence by 9am each day.

The Presidency stated that the list of the Governing board members came from the Ministry of Education, when asked for confirmation. According to Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, informed “The Federal Ministry of Education is the source of this information. They drafted the nominations and sent them to the President for approval. However, they are free to release it from their end,

The appointments follow the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ threat to go on strike just a few days earlier, which might have disrupted the academic schedule and further hurt the nation’s Higher Education System. The union criticized the Federal Government’s inability to name Governing Councils for Federal Colleges on Tuesday, 14 May 2024.

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. During a meeting at the University of Abuja, the academic community also criticized the university system’s 25% pay increase for other academics and 35% wage increase for professors.

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