Tuesday 30 April 2013


FG faults state of origin in VCs, rectors’ appointments


Education Minister, Ruqayyattu
Federal Government has said the appointments of vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts will be on merit.
Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, who stated this on Monday, also said henceforth, no polytechnic would run a post-graduate programme.
The minister spoke in Abuja while inaugurating the governing councils of 15 federal polytechnics, 19 federal colleges of education, National Teachers Institute and the National Education Research Development and Council.
According to her, the idea that principal officers of tertiary institutions should come from the locality is alien to the system that considers merit as its operational watchword.
She said, “Councils should not allow themselves to be embroiled in primordial sentiments but rather make due process their guiding principle in all appointments.
“Position of rectors/provosts and other principal officers should be open to all qualified Nigerians irrespective of where they come from.”
Rufai, who frowned on the arbitrary conferment of fellowship awards by many tertiary institutions, also noted that academic convocation had become “carnivals of sorts” in recent time in the country.
She said, “The governing councils should not be lured to turn the prestigious fellowship awards to chieftaincy title affairs. The image and integrity of the institution should be foremost in deciding who should be conferred with these awards. Also convocation should not be looked as a form of social gathering or carnival but purely an academic event.”
To address the problem, the minister said there would be no convocation in institutions that failed to issue certificates to graduating students.

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