Friday, March 29, 2024

Denigrating state-owned varsities won’t solve any problem, Pro-Chancellors tell ASUU President

BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO

The Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-owned Universities has warned the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Emmanuel Osodeke against making denigrating comments about tertiary institutions in the country.

It said such attitude wouldn’t proffer any solution to the lingering crisis in the nation’s education sector.

The Pro-Chancellors said they had taken drastic steps on membership of ASUU as regards state-owned universities, saying that membership of the union should not be forced.

COPSUN said its decisions were based on the recent comment made by Osodeke, where he reportedly said that state universities are “irrelevant and quacks.”

In a press release signed by the Secretary, COPSUN, Marcus Awobifa, on Monday, COPSUN noted that membership of ASUU is voluntary, adding that: “it is not his ill-informed approach and denigration of state universities that will lead to fashioning out creative approaches to avoid existential extinction that will solve the myriad of problems confronting the University system in Nigeria.”

According to COPSUN, the “very unfortunate ill digested view of the President of ASUU has vindicated the position of this Committee on the following issues:

“The negative professionalisation of offices of the Unions that operate in our Universities and the unserious belief among many members of the Unions that the Unions are superior to the Councils of the Universities that are their employers.”

The committee concluded on the need to democratise the membership of ASUU in the universities to the extent of the freedom of any individual to belong to a union with options of not belonging.

“Devolution of powers on the issues of labour, wages and salaries with freedom of the employers to negotiate with their employees, as it is practiced in other parts of the world, where we borrowed the University system.

“State Universities cannot be forced or coerced to implement agreements reached between the Federal Government and her workers in the Universities to which they are not parties.

“It is time to respect the federal nature of our government in all matters and not selectively, especially on the issues of salaries and wages,” he said.

Reacting to the statement made by Osadeke, he noted that its first response was to ignore “this tendentious, ill conceived and flagrant unconscionable statement by the President of ASUU, but on reflection, it was thought necessary to do a rejoinder to this rather unfortunate statement having regard to the position of the President of ASUU in the scheme of things in our University system in Nigeria.”

COPSUN said the statement was insulting, contemptuous and unbecoming for Osodeke to state that its esteemed members who are retired Ambassadors, retired Generals in the Armed forces, retired Vice-Chancellors, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, renowned politicians and other distinguished professionals are presiding over quack and inconsequential universities.

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