TheCable

The committee of vice-chancellors of federal universities says the nation’s public institutions are in dire need of manpower.

Tanko Ishaya, vice-chancellor of the University of Jos, spoke on Friday when he appeared before the house of representatives committee investigating alleged job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Ishaya represented Lilian Salami, chairperson of the committee of vice-chancellors of federal universities.

He said most of the institutions have not been able to replace some of the professors they have “lost” over the years.

“Public university sector is actually in crisis with respect to employment as we speak,” Ishaya said.

“Secondly, there are a number of universities that — in fact, the majority of public universities have never had the opportunity to even replace some of the professors that we had lost over the years.

“So for us, we thought that this is a very good opportunity for the university sector to address the challenges that were more or less having in terms of getting the required manpower for the running of our universities environment.”

Public universities in the country continue to face challenges ranging from strikes, inadequate funding, brain drain and corruption.

In 2022, TheCable reported how students were learning in dilapidated facilities in several public universities.