Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has received the drafted white papers from the 21 white paper drafting panels constituted by the government in March.
The Ministry of Education had constituted 10 committees to draft white papers from the visitation panel of 36 federal universities, six panels for 25 polytechnics and five for 21 colleges of education.
The panels were tasked to prepare the white papers from the reports of the visitation panels that had earlier been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2021.
The draft white papers were submitted to the minister on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
Receiving the white papers, the minister was said to have assured the panels that the government will “make efforts” to implement the recommendations contained therein.
He said the ministry will submit the reports to the president, “whose prerogative it was to subsequently issue a federal government official white paper after the report undergoes the required internal processes”.
The minister was said to have commended the panel members for completing the task on time.
According to a publication on the website National Universities Commission (NUC) said the minister received the white papers at the Idris Abdulkadir Auditorium located inside the headquarters of the commission in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The ministry shall act on those aspects required of them in the final white paper,” the publication quoted the minister.
Adamu also expressed optimism that the recommendations if accepted by the government and properly implemented, the nation’s tertiary institutions would improve “in the areas of governance, quality assurance, management of finances, cordial relationship between management and other stakeholders, condition of physical infrastructures, quality of instruction as well as competencies of graduates”.
President Muhammadu Buhari approved the constitution of the white paper drafting committees, on January 13, 2022.
The panels were constituted on February 17, a few days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on an initial four-week rollover strike, listing the release of the white paper from the visitation panels as part of its demands.
The strike has been extended and is currently in its fourth month with no end in sight.
When President Buhari inaugurated the 21 panels on March 21,2022, he tasked them with reviewing the reports of the panels with particular emphasis on the observations, findings and recommendations; and to articulate the government’s position and decisions with respect to all matters raised/considered in the report.