Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, has said that the only way to rescue higher education in Nigeria is for the Federal Government to begin the immediate implementation of the pact it voluntarily reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
He said that unless the agreement is respected, higher education is doomed in Nigeria.
Aturu made the declaration in a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday titled: “Implementation of FGN-ASUU agreement-the only way to save higher education in Nigeria.”
“We may have to return to the suggestion made by Prof. Wole Soyinka many years ago that we should close down all the universities and declare a state of emergency.
“When the sage first made that suggestion it looked unrealistic and alarmist. Now, it is clear that we are pretending to have higher education.
“What takes place in our dilapidated universities is little better than kindergarten education, if we must be honest with ourselves,” he noted.
Aturu remarked that it was unacceptable that government should attempt to bully ASUU to accept its offers.
He observed that the expenditure profile of the government and politicians does not show that government is unable to meet the financial requirements of the agreement.
He pointed out that in a country where politicians buy private jets at will and send their children to private primary schools overseas, only the politicians would believe the lie that government cannot afford to fund higher education in the manner requested by ASUU-FG agreement. (NAN)
