Students of various universities who registered for their Permanent Voters’ Cards outside their institutions’ environment might not be able to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities said shutting down tertiary institutions to avail students of the opportunity to vote during the 2023 elections is not in the purview of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Bolarin noted that it behoves the Senate of every institution to take a decision on whether its school will be actively in session during the elections or shutdown.
In addition, Bolarin noted that the Federal Ministry of Education also wields such power to mandate institutional leadership to close down every tertiary institution across the country to enable students to exercise their civic rights.
His words:
“The NUC is just a regulatory body. It doesn’t have the power to order the closure of any university. The only authority that can order this closure apart from the Senate of each institution is the Federal Ministry of Education and the order will be given on behalf of the visitor to all the universities, which is the president.
The professor said that it is only when the education ministry has given such an order will the NUC ensure that the directives are passed down and complied with by every institution.
He said:
“By the time the ministry gives the order, the NUC will comply and the directives will be passed down. The House of Representatives should talk to the President about this. The NUC is powerless on this matter.”
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