Afe Babalola, a renowned educationist and chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, has criticised the forced closure of Nigerian universities for the 2023 general elections by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as directed by the minister of education.
The legal luminary said that the forced closure of Nigeria’s universities by the minister of education and NUC has done irreparable damage to students of Nigerian universities.
Babalola made this known in his address during the fifth induction ceremony of 123 medical doctors that graduated at the Afe Babalola University recently.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) reiterated that neither Adamu Adamu, minister of education nor Abubakar Rasheed, executive secretary of NUC has the statutory powers to close down universities for election purposes. He, however, blamed the 1999 Constitution for all anxiety and electoral agitation in the country.
“To me, the problem that is causing apprehension among transactional politicians is the 1999 Constitution. It is the constitution that has made politics the only lucrative business in Nigeria today. This is responsible for the orgy of ‘do or die’ politics,” he said.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had earlier stated that NUC lacks the jurisdiction to order universities to shut down activities ahead of the 2023 polls.
Gbolahan Bolarin, the Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter chairman said shutting down tertiary institutions to avail students of the opportunity to vote during the 2023 elections is not in the purview of NUC leadership.
Bolarin said that the NUC is simply a regulatory body and can only ensure compliance should a directive be given by the ministry of education or the senate of each institution.
“The NUC is just a regulatory body. It doesn’t have the power to order the closure of any university.
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“The only authority that can order this closure apart from the senate of each institution is the federal ministry of education and the order will be given on behalf of the visitor to all the universities, which is the president,” he said.
“By the time the ministry gives the order, the NUC will comply and the directives will be passed down. The House of Representatives should talk to the President about this. The NUC is powerless on this matter,” he noted.
In the same vein, Sunday Oloruntola, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos insisted that NUC is a supervisory body, hence, does not have the power to close universities in Nigeria.
“NUC is a supervisory body, it is only the university senate or the federal ministry of education that has the jurisdiction to shut down universities,” he said.
However, the NUC on Friday, February 3, following the directive of the minister of education, ordered Nigerian universities to shut down between Wednesday, February 22, and Tuesday, March 14, 2023, for the general elections.
