The Federal Government has advised governing council of universities to exercise caution in the discharge of their duties to avoid conflict with the management of institutions.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the warning during the inauguration of governing councils for 19 federal universities and four inter-university centres, yesterday, in Abuja.
The minister, who urged them to come up with ideas that would shore up the internally generated revenue of universities, however, warned that President Muhammadu Buhari would not hesitate to dismiss any council found to be corrupt or incompetent.
He drew the attention of the council to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007.
According to him, prior to the enactment of the PPA Act 2007, the governing council of each university was responsible for procurement matters, through the council’s tenders board.
“However, with PPA 2007, the chief executives of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) took over the responsibility for procurement matters. Thus, in the university, the vice-chancellor and his/her management are responsible for procurement, while in the centres, the director-general and his/her management team are in charge of procurement,” he said.
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He noted that the chief executive is expected to brief the governing council regularly on all procurements, as it is done on all financial and other matters.
Adamu disclosed that visitation panels sent to federal universities had rounded off their assignments and would soon submit their reports in two separate volumes covering the periods: January 2011-December 2015, and January 2016 – December 2020.
He said: “In accordance with the panels’ terms of reference, each report will contain scrutiny of the state of affairs of the university during the periods under review; its achievements and the challenges being faced; working environment (including relationships with and among staff and students); relations between council and management; how the university relates with its host communities, as well as with national and international bodies; etc.
“As soon as the visitation reports are received, the government will study them and issue White Papers, the recommendations of which will guide councils and management on how to improve their systems and services by taking necessary steps to address the lapses and weaknesses identified by the visitation panels.”
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