ASUU bemoans planned creation of more universities

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Ibadan (UI) branch, has bemoaned the move by the National Assembly to create an additional 47 federal universities.

UI ASUU Chairman, Prof Ayo Akinwole, said this in an interview with newsmen in Ibadan on Tuesday on the sidelines of its scholarship awards to some indigent students.

Akinwole expressed worry over the planned establishment of additional federal universities when the government was still struggling to fund the existing ones.

He said the federal government is still battling to maintain the quality of the 52 universities it currently has.

“Thinking of adding 47 more universities, we begin to wonder what the objective is. The objective cannot be noble at all.

“If it is noble, you will see the seriousness in the way the government is handling the existing ones,” Akinwole said.

According to him, since the government had continually seen university education as the cheapest, it had shown little or no interest in paying salaries and allowances owed to universities.

The ASUU chairman described the removal of tertiary institutions from IPPIS as mere ‘noisemaking’, as there had been no letter to that effect to the universities.