President Muhammadu Buhari has tasked the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other trade unions with using negotiations and shunning strikes to press home their demands.
Buhari stated this in Ibadan on Thursday at the 74th Foundation Day and Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Ibadan, held at the International Conference Centre.
The president, who was represented at the event by Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, commended the efforts of the university administration in maintaining the great reputation upon which the institution was established.
He appreciated the institution’s leading role in postgraduate education and its production of the much-needed academic staff for tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria.
Buhari stated that the university system holds the key to the future of any nation. “Therefore, there is a need for discipline and stability in our universities.
“It is disheartening that in the outgoing year, virtually, all the university’s trade unions; ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAT declared protracted trade disputes with dire consequences for our economy and unnecessary disruption of the academic calendar of our universities.
“There is a need for the trade unions, especially ASUU, to shun the weapon of strike action as a tool for pressing home their demands.
“Strike action only compounds the already poor state of our education sector, and erodes our public universities’ national and international reputation.”
Buhari also commended UI for remaining the best and one of the top 500 universities in the world, given its improved ranking by the Times Higher Education Assessment in four successive years since 2017.
He urged the organised private sector to continue supporting the education sector, adding that the government cannot do it alone.
In his address, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar Ill, the Sultan of Sokoto and Chancellor of UI, also lamented the damage caused by the eight months, adding that “the worst hit are our children.”
Abubakar stressed the need to improve the standard of education in Nigeria through collective efforts, adding that the country has been providing a workforce for other countries to show that its education sector is not the worst.
Corroborating Abubakar, the Pro-Chancellor, UI, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, urged all stakeholders in the education sector to ensure a crisis-free and uninterrupted academic calendar henceforth, adding that “our youth have suffered enough.”
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor of UI, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, said his administration has continued to tackle challenges associated with providing a healthy, safe, and conducive environment for sound education.
The REPORTERS AT LARGE reports that 153 candidates from various disciplines were awarded Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
