The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has cautioned state and federal governments against the proliferation of universities in the country without adequate provision for funding..
The National President of ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, at a Town Hall Meeting in Jos, Plateau State today, July 11, said that some of the universities being established by both federal and state governments are needless.
“Federal and State Governments are establishing universities without adequately funding them. For instance, why do we need a university of transportation, or that of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)? All these can be taken care of by the existing public universities.
“So, proliferation of university education will not help us; it is grossly affecting the quality of education in the country.”
Professor Ogunyemi regretted that state governments have made the setting up of universities a constituency project, rather than centre of development, adding if care is not taken, university education in the country would go into comatose just like the current state of primary education system.
“What we see today is that state governments have turned the establishment of universities to constituency project; every governor wants to have a university in his constituency. This is really sad, and if we are not careful, university education will collapse like the public primary schools in the country.
“So, what ASUU is really fighting for is to stop the total collapse. Our demands are not selfishly motivated.”
ASUU President advised federal government to fix public universities, saying that by so doing, such institutions can be spinners of revenue generation.
He advised government to implement the recommendation of the union based on the Needs Assessment Report of 2012 and other demands of the union.
The town hall meeting attracted students, parents, teachers, journalists, lawyers and religious leaders, among others, as participants.
Source: NAN.
