NELFUND: Athena Centre Welcomes Partnership With Federal Ministry Of Education
The Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership has accepted the offer of strategic partnership by the Federal Ministry of Education to track transparency and build an accountability system in the University system.
Chief Osita Chidoka, Founder and Director of the Centre said this in a Statement made available to newsmen in Awka on Monday.
The Ministry of Education had said would collaborate with the Athena Centre to launch a compliance-tracking initiative and a countdown webpage to monitor institutional transparency.
The Ministry said the Centre would also offer technical assistance and introduce an Annual University Transparency Index to promote accountability and enhance the global relevance of Nigerian universities.
Chidoka said the Athena Centre was pleased to accept the invitation to collaborate with the Ministry of Education and commended the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Olatunji Alausa, for his commitment to institutional reform.
According to him, this is a bold and much-needed move that signals that the Ministry is serious about restoring integrity to Nigeria’s higher education governance.
“We are happy that our Athena Governance Insight report, which revealed widespread failures in university transparency, has informed and influenced this important national conversation and set pathways for reform.
“This is a landmark opportunity to move from diagnosis to reform, we commend the Ministry for choosing collaboration over defensiveness and transparency over opacity.
*At Athena, we will work with rigour and independence to ensure that this partnership delivers measurable change,” he said.
Chidoka said as part of this collaboration, the Centre would provide technical support to institutions, facilitate data collection and analysis, and serve as a neutral, professional convener to help strengthen transparency systems within the sector.
He reiterated the commitment of the Athena Centre to working with all relevant stakeholders including the National Universities Commission, university administrators, civil society, and development partners adding that their approach would remain evidence-based, stakeholder-focused, and results-oriented.
Additionally, a training program will be organized for Bursars and ICT Heads of universities
and polytechnics on the development and maintenance of an open-portal initiative
“The partnership will focus on launching a compliance-tracking and countdown platform, establishing an annual university transparency Index and developing a training programme for bursars and ICT Heads of universities and polytechnics.
“This will enable the effective rollout of open financial portals and reporting frameworks,” he said.
