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By Tajudeen Kareem
The Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, has been in administrative turmoil for over 15 months, beginning with the controversial tenure extension dispute involving suspended provost, Dr. Wahab Azeez, in 2024. The situation escalated to violent protests in July 2024, forcing the governing council to ask Azeez to “step aside” and appoint Dr. Isaac Miller as acting provost.
Minister of education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, subsequently raised a Special Visitation Panel on July 29, 2025. The panel, chaired by former Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar, was mandated to examine all issues plaguing the institution and recommend solutions.
The action was taken in response to a prolonged period of instability and protests involving staff, which included concerns about the provost’s tenure and other administrative issues. The panel was specifically tasked to conduct a comprehensive investigation without assigning blames. It was given four weeks to submit its findings.
The panel’s formation followed a period of significant staff protests and unrest, including accusations against the provost and violence on campus, leading to the indefinite closure of the institution.
The panel has produced a report over two months ago, but the minister has kept it waiting on flimsy excuses that he wanted to personally receive the report, to stage another television show of motion without movement!
Alausa, a medical doctor thrust on Nigeria’s complex education sector by President Bola Tinubu for reasons best known to him, has previously acknowledged that government bureaucracy is working against educational progress in Nigeria. In June 2025, he specifically complained about bureaucratic delays affecting Unity Schools’ funding, indicating a systemic issue within the ministry’s operational structure.
So, what difference has Alausa made with policy summersaults on subject combination by students writing school certificate examination, the return of agitation by Academic Staff Union of Universities and the intractable scourge of out-of-school children?
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The delay in resolving the crisis at FCE Akoka suggests reluctance to tackle what may be a politically sensitive situation. The crisis involves complex stakeholder interests, union politics and institutional governance issues that could have wider implications for other federal education institutions. But stakeholders suggest that Alausa may be pursuing his own selfish interest as he did at Federal University of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Abeokuta.
The fact that the acting provost Dr. Isaac Miller and other administrators refused to meet with a delegation sent by the National Association of Nigerian Students in April 2025 indicates potential institutional resistance to change, which may be influencing the ministry’s approach.
The National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Council in Lagos State, has severally expressed frustration at the attitude of the minister. The students have described FCE Akoka as an institution “running on autopilot for over eight months” with paralysed administrative processes, disrupted academic programmes, deteriorating infrastructure, endangered student welfare and complete breakdown in governance.
This delay by Alausa in tackling the problem at Akoka reflects broader challenges in Nigeria’s education sector management characterised by policy implementation delays, bureaucratic inefficiencies, weak follow-through on investigative panels and reforms and pursuit of primordial and selfish interests!
The delay in releasing and implementing the FCE Akoka visitation panel’s report appears to stem from a combination of bureaucratic inertia, political calculations and systemic weaknesses in Nigeria’s education administration. Minister Alausa’s own admission about bureaucratic obstacles suggests he recognizes the problem but may lack the political will or administrative capacity to overcome entrenched institutional resistance.
The students’ suffering continues while political and administrative considerations take precedence over urgent educational needs – a pattern that, unfortunately, reflects broader governance challenges in Nigeria’s public sector management.
When will Alausa demonstrate the leadership needed to break this cycle of delay and inaction, or will FCE Akoka become another example of institutional crisis prolonged by bureaucratic paralysis?
•Kareem is a veteran journalist in Abuja, chief consultant/CEO, of Proedge Limited; +234-803-334-5286, [email protected]
