FG sets up panels to probe federal varsities

The federal government may have set machinery in motion to probe all federal universities in the country, beginning from next year.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who dropped this hint yesterday at the 42nd convocation ceremony of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife in Osun State, noted the exercise was aimed at making the ivory tower accountable to society.

The President, represented by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof Adamu Rasheed, stressed the need for proper management of federal institutions to maintain probity and accountability, saying government had constituted visitation panels to investigate the account books of the universities.

He said visitations to universities are statutory requirements for accountability of the institutions to government and citizenry, adding that such visitation to federally-owned universities are due and government has appropriately constituted panels to embark on the exercise.

He said details of the visitation panels would be made public in due course and urged staff, students, parents and relevant stakeholders
to seize the opportunity that would be provided by the exercise to submit memoranda for the success of the visitation.

The President also said government had instructed the NUC to chart a new course for curriculum development and review in the Nigerian university system, adding: “‎This administration is concerned with the quality of university education in Nigeria.

“Government believes that the quality of universities is influenced by a number of factors within the output, process and output domains.