The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu to reinstate the 13 Vice Chancellors who were improperly removed from office by the federal government in February.
National president of the students’ body, Comrade Tijani Usman Shehu in a letter to the minister of Education, dated April 27, 2016, explained that the ultimatum became necessary following the failure of the minister to take advantage of the window of opportunities provided by Nigerian students to resolve the issue amicably.
In the letter titled “NANS Demands Immediate Reinstatement of the Vice Chancellors of 13 Federal Universities Within 14 Days,” the students said the refusal of the minister to recall the sacked Vice Chancellors as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari was nothing but, “A bald-faced attempt to politicise our universities and arrest academic progression by the jugular and we have vowed to stiffly resist this.”
The student body noted that having exhaustively pleaded with the minster’s conscience and rational reasoning on the matter without any meaningful outcome, “You (minister) will at this point heed our call for the reinstatement of the hitherto sacked 13 Vice Chancellors within 14 days of this notice or face the full wrath of the Nigerian students.”
The students body said if their demands were not met within the stipulated time frame, it would interpret it as an, “invitation for the Nigerian students to occupy your office and demand for your immediate resignation.”
“The students said they are perplexed and deeply perturbed by the minister for defying the voice of stakeholders in the sector as well as the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari by vehemently refusing to do the needful, noting that, “Your actions at this juncture in sticking to your guns on the sack of the Vice Chancellors make the perception clearer that you took all these actions to favour your personal interests.”
NANS described the sack of the 13 Vice Chancellors as unilateral and unconstitutional, noting that the action is unhealthy for Nigerian educational system.
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