Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
VC seeks speedy passage of university autonomy bill
By Ben Duru
Special Correspondent, Owerri
Five years of democracy have not made a desirable
impact on institutions of higher learning because the University Autonomy Bill
has not been passed into law, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of
Technology Owerri, Professor Jude Njoku, has said.
He, therefore, enjoined the National Assembly to
expedite action on the passage of the bill, saying it will give universities
the strength to deal with problems that are peculiar to them.
Njoku said at the Correspondents’ Forum of the
Nigerian Union of Journalists in Imo State that though the assembly has been
able, in collaboration with the executive, to give universities the best in
terms of funding, there are still ways it can assist to ensure growth.
He said the passage of the bill will be a watershed
in the annals of tertiary institutions because most of the problems bedevilling
them will become a thing of the past.
The vice-chancellor said the administrative style
that makes it imperative for universities to follow the civil service structure
is not the best, explaining that universities should be allowed to operate
according to the guidelines that have been sustaining them since inception.
According to him, universities have their own
structure that provides that every circular coming to any university has to
pass through the council and anything contrary to that will seriously impede on
its growth.
Njoku also urged government to take a second look at
the policy on privatisation as it affects universities, advising that such
policies will not be in the overall interest of the system since most of the
estates being sold can be put into better use by the universities.
He said the policies of monetisation, privatisation
and due process are giant steps towards eradicating corruption from the polity
but pleaded that they should not be slammed on the institutions of higher
learning because of the effects it will have in the future.
