The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has rejected the newly reconstituted governing councils of Federal Government-owned polytechnics and universities.
Plateau News reported that President Bola Tinubu had last week approved the appointments of 555 persons to serve as Pro-chancellors/Chairmen and members of the Governing Boards of 111 Federal Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education.
An advertorial signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, showed the appointment of a chairperson and four members for each institution.
The advertorial stated that the Inaugural/Retreat for the Chairmen and Members of the Governing Councils of Tertiary Institutions will take place on Thursday, May 30th, and Friday, May 31st, 2024.
Reacting to the development, ASUP’s President, Shammah Kpanja, stated in a Monday statement that the union expressed disappointment at the new list of appointees, whom it tagged as individuals with ‘no knowledge’ of the polytechnic system.
The union noted that while former Executive Secretaries of regulatory bodies were appointed in other subsectors, none were curiously found appointable for the Polytechnics.
ASUP demanded that the list of Polytechnics be reviewed before the inauguration to include individuals with the requisite knowledge of their workings.
The union emphasized that reviewing the list would save the sector from a crisis associated with poor governance, which is likely to prevail if the list is not reviewed accordingly.
The statement read: “Having carefully studied the released list of new members, we want to express our dissatisfaction and disappointment with the composition for the Polytechnics.
“Our Union has been demanding that persons with the requisite knowledge of the workings of the sector be appointed. Such persons in the category of former Rectors and other Principal Officers from the sector, former chief executives and staff of the regulatory body, retired and serving Chief Lecturers, and other staff from the sector who have displayed adequate knowledge of the workings of the sector abound in sufficient numbers.
“The current composition falls significantly short of the above as no such person(s) in the categories listed was appointed. This is a great disservice to the Polytechnics and is also different from the experience in the two other sub-sectors that make up the tertiary education sector.
“Former Principal Officers and retired and serving staff were appointed but none was found appointable for the Polytechnics despite the retinue of former Rectors, Chief Lecturers and other Principal Officers prevalent in Nigeria’s Polytechnic System.
“Our Union views this unwholesome trend as an extension of the age-long discrimination against Polytechnics in the country and an attempt to push the sector into crisis. The list for Polytechnics as released cannot improve the lot of the Polytechnics but rather turn them to playgrounds for businessmen.”