FG Wrong to Shutdown Universities – Babalola

Legal luminary and the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has said the Federal Government has no right to shutdown universities across the country.

Speaking during the commissioning of four projects at the Afe Babalola University Multi-Systems Hospital and  the launch of two books, The Elusive Search for Nation Nigeria’ and ‘ABUAD: Pioneering Educational Renaissance, the eminent lawyer said the power to shutdown universities resides with the Senate of the institutions.

“The one month closure would have adverse effect on the predictable academic calendar of private universities and reduce them to the level of public universities where four year programmes are not completed in eight years.

“The senate of the university is of the view that education is a delicate issue. Universities are not like parastatals of government like railway or Bank of Industry. Even the President who is the visitor to public universities has no right to dissolve the Governing Council, remove Registrar and dabble into other academic affairs.

“The Ministry of Education knows that it has no right to close universities; that was why it wrote a letter to NUC to close down universities. The NUC also knows that the power to close down universities under Section 22 of Education (National Minimum Standard) provides that it must afford the proprietor of the institution an opportunity to make representation for consideration within 70 days before it can close down a university,” Babalola said.