FUNAAB VC Appeals To FG to rescind its decision

The Vice-chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Kolawole Salako, has appealed to the Federal Government to rescind its decision to scrap management science courses in specialised institutions.

He made this appeal on Monday at the Senate Chamber of the institution while briefing journalists as part of the 30th anniversary of its existence.

Salako, who said the institution had not admitted students for management courses such as Accounting, Banking and Finance, among others, for about two academic sessions, explained that the fate of the undergraduates and the lecturers in the institution’s College of Management Sciences were hanging.

The Federal Government had, last year,  ordered the scrapping of management courses in specialised varsities in the country.

Consequently, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board “to delete all such courses on its portal.”

The government therefore directed that such universities stick to the core mandates for which they were set up.

Salako, who noted that it would have been better if the management courses had not commenced in the institution, however, said efforts were being made to get the FG to rescind the decision.

He said, “We are talking to the stakeholders. We believe they will listen to us. It is a headache for us to disband the staff.

“Concerning the issue of the running of management courses here, it would have been better if we had not started. We are trying our best to bring back the college. But the issue is beyond the vice-chancellor.”

Salako, who is the sixth substantive vice-chancellor of the institution, said he had a 12-point agenda, including leadership through democracy, diligence and discipline, promotion of research and scholarship.

On the challenges facing the institution, he said it needed more staff across all departments, and lamented epileptic power supply as well as inadequate hostel facilities