By- Opeyemi Akeredolu
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has said the education crisis in Nigeria is a result of the government not prioritising the education sector.
Osodeke, made this known while addressing his speech during the commissioning of a new ASUU secretariat at the University of Ilorin on Monday, stating that there is a need for the government at all levels to take education as one of their priority.
“A father who earns three hundred and sixty thousand per anum, and you want such parents to pay tuition fees of two hundred thousand naira. Accommodation is not there no feeding no upkeep, how will it happen? But in this same country, our legislators are the highest-earning legislators in the whole world. How do we compare that? It is not as if we do not have the resources, the priority is not just there.”
Reiterating his earlier claim, he noted that it is clearly stated in the constitution that the government must fund primary, secondary, and tertiary education in Nigeria, adding that the Nigerian government can fund tertiary education if it chooses to manage resources effectively and cuts the cost of governance.
While speaking on the effect, he mentioned that the rate at which private university is increasing daily in the nation is high, adding that government should not allow the private sector to over shadow the public sectors
“The development in primary and secondary schools has been destroyed, teachers are not being paid and who cares? If we are not careful, that is where we are going to, they should not allow university to die as I speak now we have one hundred and thirty seven private universities registered, but they account for less than six percent of student in Nigeria they want to capture us and we should not allow it that to happen.”
The ASUU president however congratulated the University of Ilorin chapter on the new development, charging them to have hope on the union and continue to contribute their cooperation and solidarity for its growth.
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