Buhari signs Federal Polytechnics Amendment, Security Studies bills into law

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja signed into law the Federal Polytechnics Amendment bill and the National Institute for Security Studies bill.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Alhaji Umar El-Yakub disclosed this when he addressed State House Correspondents on Tuesday.

According to him, the new Act on Federal Polytechnics now pegs the tenure of Rectors of Federal Polytechnics at single five year tenure.

He said: “The Federal Polytechnics Amendment Bill sought to amend the Federal Polytechnics Act of 2004, whereby there were amendments to several sections of that Act.

“This includes the tenure of the Rectors, which has now been harmonised to five year single tenure and whereby a Rector is currently serving the old four year tenure, he/she will have an additional year to make it five.

“The amended Act now stipulates that the Polytechnics will now have Governing Councils of five members, reflecting the national character, comprising a lady, an alumnus of the each of the Polytechnics and a person form the area where the Polytechnic is based.”

According to the presidential aide, the National Institute for Security Studies ACT now paves the way for the establishment of the institute with a view to ensuring that middle and senior managers in the security environment have their competences improved.

“They will have their competences built, where they will be trained for competence and capacity building.

“It will look at the inter-agency relationship with a view to harmonising same, so that there will be efficient communication among them locally and globally,” he said.

El-Yakub also said when operational, the institute would serve as a critical research organisation, “with a view to ensuring that there are competent people managing the security environment for global peace and stability.’’