Chairman Academic Staff Union of Universities at University of Lagos, Dr Dele Ashiru, has said that if not for the union’s struggle, public universities in Nigeria would have perished.
The don disclosed this during an interview on Daily Trust’s Twitter Spaces on Friday.
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Ashiru, who accused the Buhari administration of relinquishing Nigeria sovereignty to another country for establishing IPPIS database in the city of California, said the union is fighting for the right of Nigerians .
He added that the humongous fees charged by private universities in the country are beyond the capacity of the poor.
Ashiru said, “How many children of the poor can pay the crazy bills and fees set by some private universities in Nigeria? To read medicine is N3/4 million (per session).
“If somebody had not stolen enough money in Nigeria, where and how is he going to save? Times that amount (N3m) for about five or six years. That is N18m.
“What we are saying and what Nigerians should see is that if not for our struggle, holding government accountable, getting them to forcefully fund public universities, by today there will be nothing called public universities in Nigeria and go and look at it.
“Even President Muhammadu Buhari has just said he will be leaving office only very soon. Since he became president, about two universities have been established in his village alone.
“So the struggle of our union is geared towards ensuring that government will not kill public universities because our belief is that education, especially at the highest level, should not be for those who can pay but for brilliant Nigerians who can pass the requisite exam irrespective of their social standing.”
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