The Federal Executive Council (FEC), says it will now hold the management of public higher institutions accountable for the prudent administration of their financial resources and strict compliance with establishing laws and regulations setting up the institutions.
The Minister of Education, Mamman Tahir made this known to State House Correspondents after the Council Meeting held on Monday and presided over by the Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Council Chamber, State House Abuja.
The Minister stated that the council had approved a note presented in December 2023 as regards the pulling out of the Public higher institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and approvals of recruitment waivers to the public institutions thereby providing opportunities for the institutions to manage their affairs.
Mamman stated that the Council expressed concern about the need to remind the public tertiary institutions of their obligations under various laws setting up the schools.
The Minister added that the Council agreed to hold account managers of the institutions over any glitch of regulations.
“The Minister of Education had a note to the council and the Council approved to him as it relates to Higher education as it was taken in December if you recall, but the council thought it is important for the university to be reminded of their obligation under the various laws that sets up the universities.
“This time around, council will hold to account their management for any glitch of regulation which will be communicated to them and the effective date for this was the middle of December last year. So henceforth, these regulations will be conveyed to them so that they can be free to manage the university in line with the various laws setting them up.”
Mamman disclosed that the tertiary institutions will now employ staff when there is budgetary provision for the need thereby taking into consideration the ratio between academic and non-academic staff.
“These all pertain to ensure that public tertiary Institutions employ staff only when there is budgetary provision for it and there is also a ratio between academic and non-academic staff which must not be bridged. It is 1 to 5 as prescribed by the universities commission and there is a limit to per time staff that can be recruited that is restricted to senior lectures and above for particular period which should not exceed one year.”
The Minister of Education further made known that the Council also made observations on research output from research institutes across Nigeria saying concerns were raised over the low quality and non relevance to the developmental needs of Nigeria.
“The council made some observations on research output from research institutes across the country and expressed concern about the institutes not living up to relevant and valid proper research that meets the requirement of Nigeria or that takes the country to the level of development and that is the major role of research institutes in developing countries.
“The council wants to see our Tertiary institutions play those roles while ensuring there is sufficient funding for those activities”.
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