The Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Education affirmed their commitment to cease disruptions in academic activities during this administration.
This decision was reached during the 2024 budget defense session, where the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Chris Maiyaki, appeared before the joint committee.
Senator Dandutse Muntari, the Committee Chairman, and Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata, the co-chairman, queried Maiyaki, accompanied by Vice Chancellors from federal universities, regarding budget performance and the prevailing challenges within the education system.
Expressing their determination, the committee pledged to investigate the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) saga and address recruitment obstacles to stabilize academic operations.
Senator Muntari, also a member of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, emphasized the paramount importance of education and advocated for leveraging the country’s resources to ensure quality education.
Chairing the Reps Committee on University Education, Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata, recalled the hurdles faced by Ahmadu Bello University during his visit to Zaria. He underscored the Parliament’s aspiration for seamless academic activities within and outside Nigerian universities without hindrances.
“As parliamentarians, we are looking forward to universities that are valued internationally.
“On series of complaints that IPPS and recruitment process have made the work cumbersome and discouraging in Nigerian universities”, Fulata said they will look into the nitty-gritty of the whole issue and seek a way forward.
He urged the NUC and VCs to make detailed submissions of documents for attention.
Maiyaki, who said the country moved from one university in 1948 to 217 universities as of today, identified inadequate funding, inability to raise resources from other sources, and IPPS as some of the major challenges.
He expressed optimism that challenges confronting the system would be addressed with the intervention of the parliament.
Speaking on behalf of the Vice Chancellors, Prof. Sagir Abbas, Vice Chancellor, Bayero University Kano, thanked the lawmakers in the 10th National Assembly for their commitment to solving the problem bedeviling the Nigerian educational system.
