By ERICJAMES OCHIGBO

The House of Representatives Committee on University Education says the appointment process of a new vice-chancellor for the University of Abuja should be halted, pending the outcome of ongoing investigation into the leadership tussle rocking the institution.

Chairman of the committee, Rep. Abubakar Fulata (APC-Jigawa), made this known in a statement on Friday, after a roundtable meeting with the acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Patricia Lar.

Fulata appealed to the various parties to embrace dialogue in order to ensure stable academic activities in the university.

“We urged relevant stakeholders to put on hold all processes that will lead to emergence of the new VC until controversies resulting in the leadership tussle are addressed.

“The committee, under my leadership, is completely against anything that will affect the calendar and smooth running of the university system,” he said.

The lawmaker said that following earlier petitions on the sacking of some vice-chancellors and the dissolution of governing councils, the committee took steps to investigate the allegations to ascertain due process.

He said that efforts were ongoing to recover the 11,000 hectares of land belonging to the university but which was revoked by the FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

The legislator said that the intervention followed a petition submitted by the university’s Alumni Association, seeking the committee’s intervention.

“The House Committee on University Education has taken a step to intervene on the revocation of about 11,000 hectares of land belonging to the University of Abuja by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

“The decision of his committee’s intervention was sequel to a petition by the University of Abuja Alumni Association, seeking intervention of the parliament.

“The association noted that FCT minister is seizing 11,000 hectares of land from the University of Abuja while leaving the school with only 4,000 hectares,” he said.

On her part, Lar said that she had less than one month to complete the six-month period to deliver on her mandate, which was to manage the institution’s affairs, ahead of the appointment of a substantive vice-chancellor. (NAN)