Oyekanmi’s remark was towards several pleas from stakeholders that universities should declare holidays for students to collect their Permanent Voter Cards and also vote in the coming polls.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has said it does not have the power to force tertiary institutions in the country to stop academic activities in order to enable students to vote during the forthcoming general elections.
This was made known by the media aide to the chairman of the commission, Rotimi Oyekanmi, in an interview on Friday.
Oyekanmi’s remark was towards several pleas from stakeholders that universities should declare holidays for students to collect their Permanent Voter Cards and also vote in the coming polls.
For instance, SaharaReporters had reported how some students at the Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTH) in Niger State had requested that their second-semester examination schedule for the 2020/2021 academic session be rescheduled so that they can travel to their respective states for the 2023 general election.
SaharaReporters learnt that the management of the school fixed some examinations, such as CHE 228, CIE 221, MCE 321, ABE 526, to hold a day before the general election and some courses for Monday, February 27, 2023 (two days after the poll).
A student who spoke to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity had lamented that with the arrangement, he would have no time to travel to his state to vote.
A member of the House of Representatives, Kabir Tukura, had also on Thursday moved a motion titled, “Urgent Need to Give the Students of Tertiary Institutions of Learning in Nigeria an Opportunity to Vote in the General Elections.”
Tukura noted that the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had said that 3.8 million of the newly registered voters were students, accounting for 40.8 per cent of the total number of newly registered voters.
But speaking with PUNCH, INEC chairman’s media aide, Oyekanmi said it was beyond INEC to dictate to varsities on how to run their calender.
He said, “Each university has a governing council that decides how the university should be run. I doubt it, although I stand to be corrected, if the National Universities Commission can indeed issue a directive to universities on when to go on holidays or operate.
“Don’t forget that we also have private and state universities that are not being funded by the Federal Government, although the NUC performs its oversight functions on their academic programmes, which are subjected to regular accreditation exercise.
“In the same manner, the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot compel any university to announce a holiday for election purposes. We don’t have such powers. This decision is best left to the governing council of the individual universities.”