FG charges varsities on best practices, as panel visits FUPRE

A Federal government visitation panel has charged Nigerian universities to always comply with global best practices in the areas of corporate governance, operations, benchmark, quality assurance, and judicious application of resources for impact.

Prof. Ikenna Onyido, who led the panel to the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State, said it was important for the federal government to check the books of the various universities owned by it at intervals, to ascertain compliance to the various regulations and assess their development in line with available regulations over time.

Onyido, a former Vice-Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike explained that though the assignment was not an inquisition, it was imperative to streamline things in the universities to accomplish their goals as mandated by the laws.

He said their assignment would further strengthen the university to carry out her mandate and attract global acceptance.

To support learning and research in the university, Onyido donated sets of academic and leadership books to the university, one of which was advocacy on returning quality leadership to the Nigerian university system. The Federal Government recently constituted visitation panels to 37 universities and four Inter-University Centres and was inaugurated by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu on April 13, 2021.

The Visitation Panel to FUPRE included Prof. Suleiman Abdul (Niger); Prof. Kenechukwu Udechukwu (Anambra) and Dr. Kazeem Olaniyan (Oyo). Others were Alh. Sani Ibrahim Amin (Kaduna); Prof. Ambily Etekpe (Bayelsa) with Dr. Felicia Innamchi-Ukaegbu (Imo) as Secretary.