Varsity workers under the auspices of National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have urged both federal and state government to conduct Integrity test on individual before appointing such a person as the Vice Chancellor in the university.
The group said the call became necessary due to recent development on activities of some Vice Chancellors in the country.
Rising from its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, held at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue state, NAAT re-echoed its earlier call that government should beam its search light on the financial activities of the Nigerian universities in order to tackle corruption head-long in the system.
According to them, “In the same vein, NAAT advises that integrity test should be carried out before the appointment of Vice-Chancellors. This advice has become imperative in the light of recent unsavoury developments in the University System.”
In a communique signed by the General Secretary, Comrade Iyoyo Hamilton, the group commended the federal government on the release of the second tranche of bailout fund to state governments for the payment of outstanding salaries and allowances.
The meeting which was presided over by its president, Comrade Sani Suleiman, also commended the federal government for the timely presentation of 2017 Appropriation Bill tagged “Budget of Recovery and Growth” recently, but urged the National Assembly to ensure prompt passage of the budget into law.
NAAT also described the federal government’s Youth Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture (YISA) Programme as one of the ways to tackle unemployment and food insecurity, just as called for adequate security to check kidnapping, herdsmen-farmers’ clashes in the country.
It read in part: “NAAT observes as unfortunate and unacceptable, the fact that some State Governments still owe several months of workers’ salaries and allowances, despite the bailout funds. We therefore urge FGN to monitor and ensure compliance to the conditions attached to the release of the funds.
“NAAT frowns at the inadequate Budgetary Allocation of N50 billion to Education Sector in the proposed 2017 Appropriation Bill, which is less than 10% of the total budget, and recommends improved allocation to education as a panacea to recovery from the current economic recession.
“NAAT observes with dismay the reluctance of government to implement the 2009 Agreements they freely entered into with the Unions, and strongly urges the Government to fully implement the Agreements to avert industrial disharmony.”
It further stated that: “Our budget projections are always made to encourage and sustain capital flight. So much money is voted for capital projects which at the end are handled by big multinational companies which domicile the funds outside Nigeria.
“This deprives the local economy of sufficient funds to sustain the domestic economic growth. NAAT frowns at this arrangement because we need to grow our national economy to be able to train our Engineers, Technologists and other Professionals.
“Government should therefore put this factor into consideration when awarding contracts.”
