The former executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, has formally handed over to the most senior officer in the commission, Mr Chris Maiayaki.
At the handover ceremony in Abuja, Rasheed said he had secured necessary approval from President Bola Tinubu to step down with effect from June 30, 2023.
He said the new executive secretary would be steering the affairs of the commission in acting capacity until the appointment of a substantive executive secretary by the president.
‘Due to my desire to spend my active years in the classroom, I decided to write the president through the Federal Ministry of Education three years before my tenure expired.
“Upon receiving the approval, I wrote to the vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano to return to classroom with effect from July 1, 2023.
“I want to thank everyone for your faith and confidence in the NUC, I appreciate you for supporting the management of NUC because I am lucky to have worked with confident staff,” he said.
Rasheed appreciated the counter-based unions, especially the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the support received from sister agencies throughout his tenure.
When asked of any case of corruption after his resignation, he said he resigned voluntarily from office and not because of fear of alleged corruption.
“As far as I know, I voluntarily resigned from office. I actually resigned two years ago after the expiration of my first tenure in office because I did not want to come back.
“I had already gone to the classroom before my reappointment. This is because I don’t want to retire anywhere outside the classroom and have run the organisation to the best of my ability,” he said.
Responding, Maiyaki commended the him, saying his achievements were unprecedented for all to see.
He promised to do his best to consolidate the good work of Rasheed while counting on the support of staff and management of the commission and by extension, the academic community in the country.
