BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The sixth biennial conference of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State Universities in Nigeria (COPSUN) is to hold at the Osun State University, Osogbo between March 21 and 25, this year.
Addressing journalists on the university campus on Thursday, the Chairman of COPSUN, Yusuf Ali, said the conference is themed: “ State Ownership Dynamics, University Councils and The Need for a New Social Contract Between Society and University,” adding that Prof Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar of Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board, will present keynote address on the theme.
The Governor of Osun State, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, will declare it open on March 21 while the opening session will be chaired by Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
Ali, the Chairman, UNIOSUN Governing Council, said, “there will be five Technical Sessions over the two-day conference with ten topical papers to be presented by eminent renowned scholars and Professors of repute from across the globe, including distinguished Professors Peter Okebukola, Toyin Falola, Funmi Togonu-Bikesteth and Funmi Olonisakin.
“Other speakers are Professors Abiodun Alao, Simeon Segun Ilesanmi, Emmanuel Remi Aiyede, Nuhu Yaqub, Olanrewaju Adigun Fagbohun and Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU President. The topics to be addressed by these speakers were painstakingly selected to address various issues bothering on university governance, teaching and research, economy and future, the relevance of university training to society and the need to carve new roles for the university in the 21st Century.”
Meanwhile, Ali has decried incessant industrial actions in the nation’s education sector adding that state universities were not involved in negotiations that the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been having with the Federal Government.
He said it would be wrong for state universities to be compelled to implement the outcome of what they never pertook in.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said tertiary institutions that decide not to join nationwide strike should not be forced adding that he supports “no work, no pay policy.”
For Ali, the autonomy enjoyed by the Osun State University has assisted the institution in achieving alot and that the appointments of its Vice Chancellors and other principal officers were not interfered by the state government.
