By Suleiman Adamu, Sokoto
As the lingering crisis of dialogue between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities( ASUU) defies solution, the Kebbi state Gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Redemption Party ,PRP, Alhaji Abubakar Udu Idris says issues raised by both parties are generally considerate.
Similarly, Idris stressed the urgent need to review the educational system which entailed looking at all grey areas with a view to finding solutions either of short, medium or long term to forestall reoccurrence of the unwanted happenings.
He dispassionately argued it must be admitted that ASUU has largely lost the mediation way on the issues at stake.
” But this did not diminish the efficiency of its positions and demands either now or in the long run.”
Idris who made the observations on Monday said based on that people like him opted to resist the temptation to intervene in the matter.
The guber candidate who traced along to he path in of history said sometime in 1985, he wrote over 200 pages of thesis titled: ‘The Proliferation of Universities in Nigeria: Problems and Implications’ with lots of predictions.
“All the predictions and more have come to pass, schools including tertiary institutions are established based on needs.
“When the purpose of establishing educational institutions is largely driven by political expediency, its foolhardy to expect different outcome aside the situation we found ourselves today”, he pointed out.
He continued : ” It’s true some of the ASUU demands are outrageous but its also true that government’s intransigent is unconscionable.”
Accordingly , Idris further said ” No matter how hard both government and ASUU tried, none of them will have his way. So, there must be a middle ground or a break-even point for the two to explore and settle the pestering issues once and for all.”
He noted that education by its very nature, was capital intensive and takes generations to ripen its tangible benefits.
The fast popular politician and a critical stakeholders in the education sector also observed tha it’s difficult if not impossible for effective learning to take place in a toxic environment of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
” Toxic because both lecturers and students are not happy with the situation they found themselves.
“My take is that we can’t eat the proverbial cake and have it. We have to have a second look at the whole gamut of tertiary education in this country such as funding, staffing etc.
“As it stands today, government is in no position to fund education in the face of massive linkages in the system at all levels”, he further explained.
Notwithstanding , Idris pointed out that there were tones of research findings on how to resolve issues at hand including corruption at both University and government levels in juxtaposing with any reform effort to be implemented.
Given the scenario at hand, Idris stepped to advocated the overhaul of the entire university system, in which states owned universities could served as campuses of the Federal university nearest to them and by so doing, would reduce the needless overhead that crippled their capacity to deliver for excellence.
“I truly don’t accord much premium to budget at all levels in Nigeria. Budgets have not solved much of our national problems including that of education as it becomes an ‘annual ritual which we craft to meet the demand of the Law only”. Says the PRP Gubernatorial Candidate.
