In an effort to prevent Nigeria educational system from total collapse, a group known as Concerned Citizens for Educational Development has called on the National Assembly to intensify the probe of the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu over the sack of some Vice Chancellor of Federal Universities in the country.
The group, which is a collection of activists drawn from academics, said that Vice Chancellors who had not completed their respective tenures, but were sacked should be reinstated to enable them complete their tenures.
Speaking to newsmen Wednesday at a peaceful protest at the NASS in Abuja, the Secretary General of the group, Cyril Ojama, condemned the action of the minister of education, adding that the subject matter should be reversed as it was done in error and contravention of the relevant laws.
Ojama stated that the Minister of Education should be prevailed upon to tender an apology to the sacked 13 Vice Chancellors for the irreparable dent on their respective towering reputation.
According to him, “The National Assembly, NASS should accelerate and strengthen all laws necessary for the protection of the nation educational system from undue interference.
“We are elated that this act of impunity and assault on our educational system has not been allowed to be swept under the carpet. The heed to our demand will further strengthencitizens’ confidence in the legislature.
“Obviously, the Minister of Education sees the seat of the Vice Chancellors as an avenue for ethnic ingratiation and political settlement. This wrong precedence must not be allowed to prevail if our educational system must be saved from looming collapse”, he said.
The General Secretary of the group expressed worried that the way the new Vice Chancellors were selected and announced with a greater percentage from a particular state amounted to neglecting the principle of the federal character.
“Another unsettling fact is that the Minister of Education singularly and without conferring with the Governing Councils of the respective universities went ahead to immediately appoint new Vice Chancellors as replacement for the sacked ones”, he stated.
The leaders of the group were invited by the National Assembly to submit their letter which they said will be forwarded to the both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
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