Various Committees to investigate petitions against administration of some universities and polytechnics in the country has been set up by the Federal Government.
According to the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, the investigation has become imminent given several cases of alleged corruption, misappropriation of funds and abuse of extant laws governing such tertiary institutions.
“The ministry decided to set up these ten ad-hoc fact-finding committees in response to petitions received from different stakeholders, within and outside the institutions, with variety of allegations bordering on irregularities, abuse of due process, mismanagement, immorality, fraud and corruption among others.
In order to get to the root of the matter and ensure that justice is done, and it is seen to be done, we deemed it necessary to verify the authenticity or otherwise of the claims in these petitions. This verification is the crux of your assignment,” Adamu said.
The minister told members of the committees that the action was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s resolve to sanitise the education sector.
The foundation for the change that is necessary to turn them around lies in the quality and sincerity of leadership in all our institutions that is anchored on justice, rule of law, respect for due process and prudent management of resources.
I am sure you are all, no doubt, aware that some of the allegations and counter-claims made against the Governing Councils and managements of some of our institutions have created mistrust and hostility and hindered the smooth conduct of academic activities to the detriment of students.
Some of these allegations include: financial misappropriation, disregard of due process, nepotism and irregularities in the recruitment and promotion of staff, corruption, power tussle among council members, s*xual harassment and fraud. It is against this backdrop, that these panels were constituted to determine the veracity of the claims,” Adamu said.
