The National Universities Council (NUC) have called on the Federal Government to isolate universities from its embargo on employment.
The NUC said the universities across the country are lacking manpower as there are only 100,000 academic staff attending to over 2.1 million students in Nigeria.
According to the NUC, there are also only 170,000 non-academic staff across the various universities of the country
There are only 100,000 academic staff serving over 2.1 million students in Nigerian universities across the country, the National University Commission (NUC) has said.
The commission also called on the Nigerian government to isolate universities from the embargo on new employment for government offices due to its shortage of manpower.
The Punch reports that the deputy executive secretary of NUC (administration), Chris Maiyaki, made this known in the commission’s latest bulletin
Maiyaki said in addition to these 100,000 academic staff, there are 170,000 non-academic staff, attending to 2.1 million Nigerian students.
Tribune reports that Maiyaki said the NUC is currently supervising over 200 universities consisting of 48 federal government-owned schools; 54 states and 99 private institutions.
He also said that the entire system is in dire need of manpower.
Maiyaki said:
“Some of the problems facing the system include increased running cost, meagre budgetary allocations, issue of power shortages and shortages of manpower”.
He also said that the continued interfernce in the NUC’s functions by some professional bodies and associations which have continued to issue needless instructions to universities.
Maiyaki said: “Other challenges in the Nigerian university system include the issue of digital response to COVID-19 lockdown.”
