KWASU VC chides striking ASUU on demerits of school closure

VICE chancellor Kwara State University (KWASU), Professor Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, has called on the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off the ongoing strike action, saying that they are not contributing to nation’s educational development with the closure of universities.

Speaking with journalists on the planned ceremony of award of honorary doctoral degrees to three African personalities in Malete, on Friday, Professor Na’Allah said that every stakeholder should love the nation enough by finding a solution to the incessant closure of schools in the country.

It is recalled that members of ASUU had been on strike action over poor funding of the nation’s universities for more than three weeks.

The vice chancellor, who lamented that incessant closure of schools contributes to lack of commitment to teaching and learning, disruption in order of work and terrible situation in quality of education, said that university staff should promote dialogue and patriotism.

“You hear of inadequate funding, but what have you done with what was given to you? I think our institutions should discourage wastage and be prudent with available resources. There’s no amount of money that can be enough to run universities. People should also stop misinformation on the finances of universities. And the problem here is that Nigeria and its people depend on development ideas generated from our universities. Here, in KWASU, we’ve not closed for one day since nine years of existence due to respect for our staff and students,” he said.

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Professor Na’Allah also charged the federal government to live up to expectations in order to move the nation’s education sector forward.

On the honorary doctoral degrees, the vice chancellor said that the three eminent personalities to be honoured are former president of Ghana, Mr. John Akufor, (Honourary doctorate degree in Public Administration) first Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Prince Tajudeen Fola Adeola (Honourary doctorate degree in Entrepreneurship) and an Ilorin based foremost folklore singer, Alhaji Aminu Jayigbade Alao (Honourary doctorate degree in Literature).

Professor Na’Allah, who said that the special convocation was aimed at appreciating contributions of the recipients to humanity and socioeconomic development of the society, added that it was a joint decision of the management and Senate of the institution.