Reps, Minister differ on who over sees Agric Universities

There was a disagreement on Tuesday, at the National Universities Commission (NUC) between the House Committee chairman on education, Aminu Suleiman and the minister of Education, Adamu Adamu over claim that the universities of agriculture will henceforth be under the Ministry of Agriculture ‎and no longer to be supervised by the Ministry of Education.
Adamu who was not happy at the absence of the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh at the inauguration, stated that the resolve to move all universities of agriculture to the Ministry of Agriculture was a resolution that was adopted at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
“I expected the Minister of Agric to be here ‎to let him know that this is the last time federal universities of agriculture governing councils will be inaugurated under the Ministry of Education because we have agreed at the Federal Executive Council that the specialised universities should be moved to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture,” Adamu stated.
The minister of youths and sports, Solomon Dalung, who was also at the event, gave more support to the specialised universities to be moved from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Agric. ‎He lamented that specialised institutions have no business producing students contrary to their mandate and the act establishing them.
“What business does a federal university of agriculture have in producing lawyers and accountants? If we are not careful, they will start producing imams and pastors” Dalung said.

In response, the House Committee chairman criticised the decision, saying that more deliberations should take place to find a common ground of agreement on the issue of specialised universities in order to benefit the nation.
Meanwhile, inaugurating the Council Members, Adamu Adamu called for the prudent management of resources while efforts are been intensified to broaden the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base of each university.

He emphasised on diversification of sources of funding and challenged the council members to provide support for the university adding that the federal government cannot carry the burden alone.

The Minister who called on the councils to join in the war against corruption, charged the councils to monitor effective entrenchment of functional committee systems and should support the managements as they implement policies and decisions of the governing councils.

Adamu tasked the governing councils on setting policies and also define the directions.

He charged the members to study laws and statutes, government policies, government white papers, circulars, gazettes and other relevant documents that will assist them in taking decisions that will move the universities forward.

He pointed out the unwholesome practices in the award of contracts, sharp practices and allegations of bribery in the appointment of principal officers, arbitrary approval and payment of allowances for council members as areas of potential conflicts for the council members.

 

 LAIDE AKINBOADE