Yuguda pledges non-interference in NOUN’s mgt affairs, vows to play by rules

Former governor of Bauchi State and the newly inaugurated Chairman, Governing Council of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Isa Yuguda, has pledged not to interfere in the affairs of the executives of the institution.

Yuguda, who stated this while speaking with journalists after an inaugural meeting with the management of the varsity on Friday.

He spoke in reaction to fears expressed on probability of hijack of power and clash between governing councils and university management.

He said: “As Council Chairman, I am assuring you that I will never allow anyone of us as council members to interfere in whatever the executives are doing, we want to succeed and make Nigerians proud.

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“We know what it takes to fail an entity like this. Because, we have managed organisations that were successful. We know our assignment here. We have the constitution of the university. They know their schedule of duties and we know ours.”

He said the council would work and give the varsity all support in other to place the university among the best in world.

Yuguda pledged that the governing council led by himself would ensure everyone play by the rules and work assiduously to address challenges faced by the institution and also know how to bridge the financial gap if any.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Femi Peters, expressed gratitude to the federal government for the calibre of council members given to the varsity.

He said within the the brief time they interacted with the Chairman and his members, they could confirm that they have wealth of experience and no atom of any disgust will come from their relationship.

“We don’t exercise any fears on the new governing council members, ” he said

He said what the university has done was to anticipate the inauguration of the councils and it is grateful for the set who has had wonderful career in the cooperate world and others with rich experiences.

Prof Peters said the meeting was basically to familiarize with themselves and plan some schedule of activities and also deliberate on some of the challenges faced by the varsity and how to surmount them.

The meeting held after the Minister of Education,Prof. Tahir Mamman, inaugurated governing councils of all federal tertiary institutions  in Abuja on Thursday.