Vice chancellor, University of Ilorin, Professor Sulaiman Age Abdulkareem, has allayed fears among education stakeholders in and outside the country over the return of the university to mainstream Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
It recalled that the university’s ASUU chapter had detached itself from the national body for about two decades until recently.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday at one of the events to celebrate 35th convocation programmes of the institution, the vice-chancellor said that the school now “have a unanimously elected and inclusive local ASUU leadership and executives that are deeply embedded with the Unilorin spirit of selflessness.
“There is also no doubt that our well-wishers and stakeholders would have been very apprehensive about the sustainability of the stability we had enjoyed for more than two decades because of our detachment from the main ASUU, now that our local ASUU has joined the mainstream at the national level. The fear is, indeed, expected. But let me allay the fear by disclosing that we now have a unanimously elected and inclusive local ASUU leadership and executives that are deeply embedded with the Unilorin spirit of selflessness; that believe in constructive struggle rather than destructive agitation; that share the University aspiration; that valorise the glory that the University had accumulatively gained over some years; and that will not want such glory to carelessly fritter away.
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“I particularly respect and believe in the strong-will, purposiveness, strength of character and independent-mindedness of the Chairman of the restructured ASUU on our campus, Professor M.S. Ajao. I also rely on the behind-the-scene mentoring and guidance of the Elder’s Forum of ASUU on our campus, which, I believe, will help in mediating for enduring peace and sustainability of stability on our campus in spite of our integration with the national ASUU.
“Besides, I presented my opinion, and stand of the University, on the incessant strike actions to the representatives of the national ASUU while they were here to broker peace that finally reconciled us. As I boldly advised, although ASUU’s roles in ensuring access, quality and effective education as well as its effective management of higher education, cannot be overemphasised, the time is now to ensure enduring academic stability on our campuses by changing their old-fashioned style of agitations. I share a view that the confrontational tactics that brought ASUU success during the military era have become largely unnecessary, and could usefully give way to a more service-oriented role in support of union members; otherwise, they might soon lose their hard-won credibility with the general public. I believe the National Executives of ASUU are reflecting on this instructive advice. If it is heeded; then, the fears about the sustainability of the stability of our calendar, which had stood out for more than two decades, might be unwarranted. All things being equal, I implore other Unions on campus to take a cue from such non-confrontational and selfless postures”.
The vice-chancellor, who called on the federal government to increase budgetary allocation to the education sector, said that “uppermost of the challenges facing any university, particularly in Nigeria, is the insufficiency of funds to run the university and to accomplish its set goals.
“This is not to say that our proprietor is not trying. To me, the Federal Government and its agencies like TETFund have been marvellous in their efforts in funding more than 47 Federal Universities in Nigeria.
“For example, the federal government’s spending on tertiary education, by my estimation, is humongous, of which salaries and emoluments gulp a substantial part. The popular opinion, however, is that in the last five years, there has been a nose-dive in the budgetary allocation to education from a height of 10.78% in 2015 to 7.92% in 2016, 7.4% in 2017, 7.04% of the 2018 budget of N8.6 trillion, and then still going lower in the 2020 Budget Proposal presented to the Joint Session of the National Assembly on Tuesday 8th October, 2019. To this end, I want to encourage the Federal Government to passionately and sincerely pursue its promise and determination to increase the annual budget on education to 15% of the total annual budget in order to bring the annual education budget closer to 26% recommended by UNESCO.
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“Meanwhile, I must use this medium to appreciate TETFund for its massive interventions in all institutions of higher learning. We must ever be grateful to those who initiated and brought to life the intervention agency. Many of us at the helms of affairs in the Nigerian universities frequently imagine what could have become of the physical structure at our universities if not for TETFund interventions.
“At our University, we have realised long ago that government alone cannot sufficiently fund education to attain the global standards that can drive national prosperity and development we desire. This is because, as President Muhammad Buhari, once frankly noted, “there are numerous other competing demands and responsibilities from different sectors of the economy”. For example, the full implementation of our 4th Strategic Plan, which entails the ambitious giant strides we want to make before the end of our tenure has been estimated to gulp N36,443,500,000.00. There is no way we can get all the money from the government.
“So, total dependence on the Federal Government for funding higher education is neither practical nor sustainable. And this is why we have also long ago realised the need to increase our capacity to generate substantial internally generated revenues. Our drive in this regard has been yielding positive results. Immediately I assumed the captain’s seat of this University, I began aggressive scouting for and negotiation with reliable businessmen who could help us use our massive endowment of land to generate money that will make us self-reliant. With the assistance and the goodwill of our Chairman of Council, we have been able to get one who will soon turn our University into Eldorado of academic and business prosperity. The collaboration we have consummated with the businessman, who is known for his integrity, is a bold step in the direction of solidifying our philosophy of combining academic with entrepreneurship initiative”.
End.
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