From Fred Itua, Abuja and Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A group, Borno Concern Citizens, has written to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to protest the planned merger of the Nigerian Army University Biu (NAUB) with the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.
It said the move would be counter-productive.
The letter was addressed through the committee set up by the Federal Government to implement the Steve Oronsaye report that would lead to the merger of departments and agencies of government.
The committee has commenced its work but the Borno Concern Citizens insisted that mixing up the civilian population from NAUB with the NDA would be counter-productive.
The appeal letter signed by Muhammad Ibrahim for the Borno State Concerned Citizens, stated they were bringing up the issue now in order not to obfuscate the whole process.
The letter, which only had one prayer, appealed to the committee on the implementation of Oronsaye report and White Papers on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies and Commission to reconsider the proposed merger of the NDA and NAUB and allow each to play its distinctive role in the overall interest of the nation.
While NDA was established on January 5, 1964, through the merging of the Royal Military Forces Training College, which is the training Institution for the Army; and the Nigerian Military Training College, which was responsible for training officers for the Nigerian Army, Navy and the Air Force; NAUB was established in 2018, with a special mandate as a hub for innovation and technological development for the Nigerian Defence sector and the nation, to meet the rapid development in the dynamics of modern warfare and other ancillary matters; which came years after the Oronsaye report.
“Further aware that in establishing NAUB, due process and rule of law were strictly adhered to and approvals were sought from the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting on April 11, 2018 which later culminated in an Act of National Assembly accented to by the president on April 1, 2021.
“Subsequently the Act was published on April 7, 2021 in a gazette No.110 Vol.108 Nigerian Army University, Biu (Establishment) Act 2020.
“Also notes that the vision of the university as conceptualised is to become a solutions centre in technology, research and development for the promotion of self-reliance, creativity and innovation in addressing the educational challenges of the Nigeria Army, military as well as the nation. This vision was derived from the experiences of similar universities all over the world such as the National Defence University of Technology in China, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh just to mention a few.
“Also aware that the university is an assemblage, which comprises 75 per cent civilian and 25 per cent military population, with a mixed staff strength, made up of both military and civilian intellectuals. Its programmes are carefully crafted and structured to strengthen the Nigerian Army and the nation, through sound and innovative application and deployment of science and technology,” the group said.
The group said the merging of the two distinct institutions will not augur well for the sacred nature of military training and defence system.
“The NDA is a specialised institution, strategically positioned to train officers for the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force.
“Therefore, mixing them up with civilians from the Nigerian Army University Biu will be counter-productive. Also worried that the merger of these two institutions was not part of the initial Oronsaye report of 2012 as well as the reviewed one. Therefore, it will be out of place to include them in the lists of institutions to be streamlined or merged as proposed.
“Observed that many bills for the establishment of universities and institutions of higher learning were passed by the National Assembly and signed into law after the establishment of NAUB.
“Also observed that the National Assembly has passed and will continue to pass bills for the establishment of tertiary institutions in the country as it becomes necessary.”
That more licenses for establishment of private universities have also been granted by NUC because of the inadequate number of tertiary institutions in the country,” the group said.