Why universities need full autonomy – Afanala

by Fatima Mohamed-Laval

The Registrar of the University of Ilorin, Mr. Mansur Alfanla, on Wednesday appealed to the Federal Government to grant full autonomy to the universities.

He told reporters that partial autonomy given to universities does not bode well for adequate and effective service delivery.

Alfanla explained that the federal government’s implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to pay university employees was a negation of the essence of university autonomy.

He said the money should be given to universities to pay their employees instead of centralizing the payment in Abuja.

He also said that the essence of autonomy fought for by trade unions in universities was to enable their governing councils to take decisions based on their specific situations.

Alfanla insisted that universities should not look to the federal government to make most of their decisions.

While appreciating some elements of universities’ current level of autonomy, Alfanla said the government should be more involved in running universities to ensure effective service delivery.

He cited an example of the inability of the University of Ilorin to independently fill existing vacancies because of the restrictions being experienced by the Federal Government on employment.

He regretted the situation where the Governing Council must await instructions from the Federal Government before appointing new staff and taking urgent and important decisions.

“More employees of the university are leaving their services as a result of retirement and in search of greener pastures, while others had died,” he said.

Alfanla also said that they needed to be replaced to avoid work overload on those still in service.

According to him, when autonomy is granted to an institution or community, it is free to take far-reaching decisions on a wide range of issues with minimal or no-go areas.

The Registrar also appealed to the members of the public to always support the University of Ilorin as it is doing well in the discharge of its responsibilities.

He observed that most of the challenges hanging over universities stemmed from poor public policy formulation and apathy towards implementation by members of the public.

Alfanla stressed that there will always be a need for public support in various areas to enable the university administration to effectively discharge its services.
(In)