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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC) has set up Peace Building Team that consists of former Vice Chancellors (VCs), Pro-Chancellors and other eminent members of the society to intervene and find a solution to the six months strike by the university lecturers under the umbrella of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The CVC said the prolonged ASUU strike is unhealthy for Nigeria’s education system, hence the intervention of the CVC which is the umbrella body of Vice Chancellors of the tertiary institutions.
Former CVC Secretary, Prof. Michael Faborode, is the coordinator of the Peace Building Team, while other members include Prof. J. D Amin, former VC UNIMAID & Federal University, Dutse & Chairman of CVCNU Board of Trustees (BOT); Emeritus Prof. A. O. Bamiro, former VC, University of Ibadan and former Pro- Chancellor, Tai
Solarin University of Education (TASUED); Senator Dr. Nkechi Nwagogu, former Pro-Chancellor, UNICAL.
Others are Prof. Joe Ahaneku, former VC, UNIZIK, Awka and former Chairman CVCNU; Prof. Fatima Mukhtar, former VC, Federal University, Dutse; Prof. Akpan H. Ekpo, former VC of UNIUYO; Prof. Yakubu Ochefu Secretary General, CVCNU and former VC, Kwararafa University, Wukari.
The Coordinator of the Team, Prof. Faborode, in a statement, said that it will be unwise and disservice to the nation for such class of people to fold their hands and watch the university system collapse because of prolonged dispute between the Federal Government and university lecturers.
He said: “It has become imperative that we speak up and intervene in this impasse because we do not have any other industry other than the university system. Whatever can be done to bring all the actors to reason and broker peace using the Prof. Nimi Briggs committee recommendations as the fulcrum, will be worth the effort.”
Prof. Faborode explained that the peace team will operate under the auspices of the CVCNU/CPC, adding that both the Federal Government and ASUU are being reached to accept the intervention of the independent team of elders.
He added: “The intervention being offered by the Peace Team as senior academics, former administrators at the level of VCs and more important as critical stakeholders in the Nigerian University system is basically to provide a middle ground to soften the seemingly hardline position that has been adopted by the negotiating parties.
“In doing so, we have isolated two key areas that are fundamental to the dispute. These are funding and governance. Of the seven points listed by ASUU and prerequisites to the resolution of the dispute, five revolve around governance and funding.
“From the position of both parties, there is a major divide in the ideological and operational understanding of governance and funding. By law, the Universities are autonomous. However, the head and part of the composition of its main governance body, the Governing Council, is the exclusive purview of the Federal Government.
“More importantly, the funding is almost 90 per cent dependent on the Federal Government, and whatever internal charges that the universities make are also regulated.”
