Jonathan’s Varsities: Buhari Returns To Vomit, Reverses Sack Of Varsity Boards

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday,

apologised over last month's sack of the Boards

of the National Open University of Nigeria

(NOUN) and the 12 Federal universities that

were established by the administration of ex-

President Goodluck Jonathan.

President Buhari, who spoke at the All

Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive

Committee (NEC) meeting held at the APC

National Secretariat in Abuja, said he had to

rescind the blanket order for the suspension or

dissolving of the Universities Boards, after

discovering that according to extant laws of the

universities, Vice Chancellors can't be chosen

unless the Boards sit down, interview

prospective candidates who want to be VCs.

Buhari said: "When we came in after 16 years of

the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, each

government had 42 ministries. We reduced

them to 24, removed 21 Permanent Secretaries.

We sat down and reflected seriously. We were

all in the process of taking over at a time of

national budget. So, imagine the volume of work

and with what happened in the National

Assembly, the padding, it would appear that

below the Permanent Secretaries, there are still

a lot of bureaucracies that are still with them.

So, you have to appreciate the position we are

in. Having cut 42 to 24, correspondingly, the

parastatals will be cut down to some size and

realigned and the boards reconstituted.

"We gave a blanket order which we had to

rescind when we said all boards are suspended

or dissolved. We had to go back and lick our

vomit in terms of university boards because we

found out that according to their laws, they

cannot choose Vice Chancellors unless the

Boards sit down, interview prospective

candidates who wants to be VCs. So, there is

nothing wrong in saying sorry and going back on

your decision. So, we said sorry and allow all the

universities to continue with their boards. But

for the rest, eventually, we will make it. So,

please, try to bear with us as we reflect on

where we found ourselves."

Recall that on February 13, 2016, the Minister of

Education, Adamu Adamu had in a terse

statement declared that the President,

Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and

Visitor to all federal universities, President

Muhammadu Buhari, approved the appointment

of new vice chancellors for the 12 under-listed

Federal Universities and the National Open

University of Nigeria (NOUN) with effect from

Friday, February 12, 2016.

The Education Ministry in a separate notice had

said that the President also approved the

reconstitution of the governing councils of the

new 12 Federal Universities with immediate

effect.