A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria (COCSON) yesterday called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reinstate the governing councils of federal universities he dissolved, describing his action as illegal.
The National President of COCSON, Engr Obiorah Chidozie, who addressed a press conference in Abuja alongside its National Secretary, Alhaji Husseini Ibrahim, said it was an error for the governing councils of federal universities to be dissolved without regard to the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2003 which is also referred to as the Universities Autonomy Act No. 1, 2007.
Chidozie said the federal government, by the existing laws, has no power to dissolve governing councils before expiration of their four-year tenures, unless they are found “incompetent or wanting”, adding that “the university system now is left hanging without a head and now subjected to political dictates.”
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The coalition lamented that the “illegal dissolution” of the universities’ governing councils has constituted a major setback toward the growth and development of university education in Nigeria barely 7 months after, hence, the urgent need to reinstate them.
