President Bola Tinubu has pledged to introduce a policy granting full autonomy to universities, emphasizing that this move will enhance the quality of university education in Nigeria.
The president represented by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Engr. Abubakar Momoh said this during the 48th convocation of the University of Benin.
“University autonomy transfers the responsibility performance directly to the individual institution.
This administration believes that this is the right step in the right direction”, he said.
The president noted that he was committed to repositioning tertiary institutions and the education sector for excellent service delivery.
“Our administration is poised to change the narrative of higher education for the better and to place the institution of higher learning on a pedestal that would enable them to compete with their counterparts across the world”, he added.
In response to the announcement, Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, assured that the institution’s first-class graduates of Edo origin would be offered automatic employment in the State’s civil and public service.
Speaking, the chancellor of the institution, Prof. James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse listed inadequate funding, poor research opportunities, inadequate academic staff, inadequate infrastructure and corruption as part of challenges bedeviling the institution.
Meanwhile, the Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities had called on the Federal Government to grant full autonomy to universities to salvage the soul of the Nigerian university system.
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