FG orders water-tight security in tertiary institutions

In view of the security challenges in the country, the Federal Government has ordered chairmen of governing councils of all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to ensure that security is beefed up around their institutions.

Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, disclosed this at a meeting with the chairmen and heads of parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Education, in Abuja.

The meeting was ostensibly held to put them on their toes on how to secure both basic and tertiary institutions in the country.

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Nigerian Tribune gathered that Wike was concerned about the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok over a month ago as well as the sporadic attacks and invasion of schools in Benue State and other parts of the North.  

The minister urged all the  heads of federal tertiary institutions to be at alert and vigilant. 

“We all know the security situation in this country and we must all be at alert and have people who are monitoring your campuses.”

Meanwhile, Nyesom Wike has flayed undue interference by traditional rulers in the appointment of vice chancellors, rectors or provosts of public institutions situated in their domain.

He urged the governing councils to emphasise on merit and localise the appointment of the heads of the institutions, saying that there was no criteria which stated that  vice chancellors, rectors or provosts of public institutions situated in a particular domain must be produced  from the same community.

He decried the situation, where traditional rulers were getting too involved in the politics of who became head of schools situated in their communities.

He observed that where vacancies existed for the position of vice chancellors, rectors and provosts, qualified candidates from any part of Nigeria are free to apply and are all eligible to occupy vacant positions

as long as they were qualified.

“A candidate from that area must also compete with others. It is wrong to assume that the VC must be from that area based on that consideration alone.

“This trend is causing a lot of challenges for the government but the government does not interfere in these appointments, it only selects based on recommendations from councils, it would always insist that the right criteria must be followed at all times.

“A community cannot decide who heads a federal school, or decide whether a rector is performing or not, as is currently happening in Federal Polytechnic, Oko.

“We encourage merit, we take the best as we must have people who have the capacity to manage institutions. If there is a vacancy in the University of Calabar, you cannot say the VC must come from Cross River, it is not a community school,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said the Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development (PRESSID), which was introduced for the best students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria to study in 25 best universities abroad, is not subject to the Federal Character principle.

According to the supervising minister, the scheme would strictly be based on merit, even if the beneficiaries “are from the same family.”

He said, “Other scholarship schemes may consider the Federal Character, but this one would not. It is a special scheme to encourage the best in our people and help them study abroad.

Permanent Secretary,Federal Ministry of Education, MacJohn Nwabiala said the meeting was convened to thoroughly discuss critical issues in the education sectors and to proffer solutions to challenges being experienced before conflict occurs.