Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of deliberately starving public universities of funds so he could establish a private one in his name.
The accusation was in reaction to the proposed Muhammadu Buhari University which the wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhuari recently announced.
ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan, UI, Professor Deji Omole and former National Treasurer of the Union, Professor Ademola Aremu who addressed newsmen in Ibadan said the under funding of public universities under Buhari was one the disasters to befall the nation.
They called on the President to immortalise himself by revitalising public funded education rather than establishing a private university.
The Union said that the plan of the wife of the President to establish a private university confirmed why her husband had continued to reduce budgetary allocation to education since he assumed office in 2015.
Recall that Mrs Buhari had at the weekend at a Townhall meeting in Yola announced her plan to establish a private university to be named after President Buhari in partnership with some foreigners.
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Omole noted that “When I also heard about the proposed private university to be named after Mr President, I just looked at it as a joke taken too far. If we have a president in a country that has simply refused to fund public education and all we get from the family of the first lady is to establish a private university in collaboration with some foreigners, to me I think it is a disaster for this country and for a sitting president.
“The implication is that Nigerians should know that this leadership does not believe in public funded education. Nigerians should support the struggle for the government to take education as a core investment upon which this country will be liberated. It is not the children of the rich that will solve the problems of Nigeria but the children of the poor and the tool they need is quality education.”
In his own comments, Aremu said: “I don’t think that she is serious. We already have proliferation of universities and they are not taken care of. Since they are policy makers, they will now formulate policies that will ground public universities for their interest to thrive. I thought we have actually left that era. I could remember that Obasanjo established Bells and we condemned it. Atiku established his own as Former Vice President.
“If you have private interest, you should not hold public office. If you have interest in anything private, I think it is proper to actually leave the public space for those who want to eager to serve the masses. How many people can afford the existing private universities in the country? If you want to help education, then increase the capacity of the existing ones. When you are holding a public office, don’t establish a private concern. She should wait until Buhari is completely out of office before thinking of bringing a private university in whatever name.”
