The Muhammadu Buhari Government has finally released the white paper of visitation panels to 42 higher institutions, including universities and polytechnics a few days before the inauguration of a new administration.
It was learned that the release of the white paper was one of the demands laid down by the university lecturers’ union, Academic Staff Union of Universities during the union’s strike in 2022.
The term of reference for the visitation panel included reviewing the performance of each institution assigned in the areas of governance, academic standards, quality assurance, financial management, relationships between management and staff, as well as the structures of the schools’ infrastructure and instructional materials.
The visitation panels were also tasked with investigating the institutions’ financial management, compliance with procurement laws, and the deployment of funds, notably special grants and loans given for specific projects, among other things.
But the administration did not make the report public before now.
On Thursday, the outgoing minister of education, Adamu Adamu, made public the white paper findings of 42 higher education institutions.
Adamu also stated that the document’s recommendations were critical to the efficient operation of institutions.
“I must emphasize that the production of these white papers has demanded significant resources and unwavering effort from the Federal Government.
“The Federal Government has entrusted you with this crucial task, and failure to execute it faithfully will not be taken lightly,” Adamu was quoted as saying by The PUNCH.
Meanwhile, while reacting to this development during a telephone conversation with SaharaReporters, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke berated the government for prolonging the release of the report.
He said, “Before we went on strike in 2020, they agreed to. They now set up a visitation panel in March 2021. It is more than two years to do the report, does it make any sense?
“And the law says that every five years, you should set up a panel to go to the universities to investigate what actually happened and report. But this is 13 years, they are just releasing the report.
“13 years that have covered the tenure of three vice-chancellors.”