Don’t handle education like Buhari, ASUU tells Tinubu 

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has urged the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to treat academics in the country with “utmost respect.”

The academic union also advised the former Lagos State governor to ensure that university education becomes a priority.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Chairman of ASUU, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, who is also a member of the National Executive Council of ASUU, Prof Gbolahan Bolarin, urged the incoming government not to emulate the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

He said, “The first thing that one would expect from the next President is that university education must be a priority. No one should treat university education system with disdain that would make our students to stay at home for eight months because of governance failure.

“He cannot afford to treat academics like they are not humans the way the President is treating us.”

The PUNCH reports that public universities suffered from disruptions of academic calendar under the Buhari regime.

In 2020, universities were shut for close to eight months.

Similarly, there was an eight-month disruption of academic activities in universities in 2022.

Lecturers have been demanding improved welfare, end to proliferation of universities, increased funding among others.

Tinubu has severally promised that under his watch education would be given priority.

He pledged that there would no longer be strikes in the university, saying “a four-year court will be completed in four years.”

Meanwhile, the outgoing Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ile Oluji, Ondo State, Prof. Emmanuel Fasakin, has urged the government not to allow polytechnic education die from neglect.

The rector made the appeal in Akure on Monday, at the launch of his memoir to mark the end of his two-term tenure as pioneer rector of the polytechnic.

The book was titled: “Beyond the ordinary: the journey of my life and experience at the Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji.”

He said, “Polytechnic education is needed to provide manpower for our industries. Nigeria should not rely on manpower from outside the country for its industries to survive

“Nigerian government should provide a conducive and enabling environment for Nigerian citizens to work and thrive in their respective academic endeavours.”

Fasakin said he had laid a good foundation in the institution in the area of infrastructures, human capital development through teamwork and had provided transformational leadership.