Don’t compel varsities to increase IGR –- ASUU – TheNigerialawyer

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has told the President,
Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), not to compel universities
to increase their Internally Generated Revenue.

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, the
Chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos, Dr Dele Ashiru, said the
university education system was not a money-making venture and as
such should not be seen as an industry.

While saying that a university is a citadel of knowledge rather
than a business centre, Ashiru said Buhari’s call on varsities to
increase their IGR was unfortunate.

The ASUU chairman said, “It is so unfortunate that this is
coming from the President. Universities are not supposed to be a
business environment. It is the responsibility of the state to
educate the people and not pauperise them. A situation where
universities produce pure water, table water and bread is wrong.
These are not the core mandates of universities.”

Ashiru called on the Federal Government to be alive to its
responsibility of funding education and providing an enabling
environment for learning.

“The university system was established to develop society; it is
not a money-making venture. Asking them to increase their IGR is
alien to the system,” Ashiru stressed.

The ASUU chairman also faulted the call by the Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko, for the teaching of Sharia law in
schools.

He said, “It is a strange call. Why is the Chief Justice of
Nigeria, who is supposed to be objective, scholarly and an
interpreter of the law, clamouring for a specific faculty for a
specific kind of law? This is unbecoming and it is a worrisome
call.”