Pantami’s professorship illegal, it should be withdrawn, says ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared the appointment of professorship to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, by the Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Owerri, as illegal and therefore, it should be withdrawn.

President of the union, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, said this on Monday at a media briefing in Lagos when the union declared a four-week warning strike.

According to Professor Osodeke, the appointment of professorship to Pantami is grossly illegal and therefore such professorship should be withdrawn.

He said it is alien to university system anywhere globally to award a professorship to somebody outside academic and that Pantami’s own would never be in exemption.

In September 2021, Pantami, alongside seven academics were elevated by the council of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, to the position of professorship at the council’s 186th meeting.