The Emir of Kano, and Chancellor, University of Benin, Muhammed Sanusi II, has urged the federal government to honour all agreements it entered into with the Association Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end frequent distortion of university calendar.
Sanusi spoke at the weekend during the 45th convocation/49th Founders Day ceremony of the University of Benin.
“The worrisome development of late is the tug of war between the government and academic staff union of universities on issues bothering on fiscal policy of the government. The media, were recently, awash with news of threat of strike by ASUU over their integration into the integration payroll information system (IPPIS).
“My advice to the government is that there should be a political will to honour all agreements it entered into with university unions; be more open to dialogue and try to involve all stakeholders in the decision-making process,” he said.
According to him, once that is done, frequent disruptions of academic calendar of universities which has resulted in the decline in the quality of graduates, will become a thing of the past.
While commending President Muhammad Buhari for the relative peace, uninterrupted academic calendar in the universities so far, he maintained that a lot still needs to be done ‘‘if we want our universities to achieve global visibility’’.
The Emir of Kano also commended the governing council of the university for the transparent manner through which it selected the new Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Lilian Salami.
While noting that the new Vice Chancellor was selected on merit, Sanusi charged her to follow the footsteps of Prof Grace Alele Williams, the first female Vice Chancellor of the institution.
