The Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to honour whatever agreements the Federal Government entered into with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to avoid the looming strike in public universities in the country.
The Sultan, who stated this yesterday at the 73rd Foundation Day and grand finale of the Convocation of the University of Ibadan held at the International Conference Centre of the institution, noted that an agreement entered with anybody must be honoured, because this was what God expected of every Muslim. His words: “I will like to request the Visitor to, please, look into the request by ASUU.
We have just heard that ultimatum has been given to the government by ASUU. I will like to call on government to look into ASUU’s requests. “Where agreements were made and reached, uphold such agreements. A good person holds on to any promise made to anybody.
As Muslims, we know that Almighty Allah does not say what He cannot do. It is terrible in the eyes of the Almighty to say what you cannot do. “If the government has entered into any agreement with ASUU, please try and redeem such agreements so that our universities can remain open and our children remain in school for the betterment of our great country.”
President Muhammadu Buhari, in his address, charged the management of Nigerian universities to collaborate with the Federal Government to stamp out corruptionintheinstitutions “mired in fraud, confusion and vision.” Buhari, Visitor to the university, was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Mayaki. The President who commended the Governing Board led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, s a i d the university authorities should not only be demanding for adequate funding of education.
“It is our collective responsibility to work together and stamp out corruption at all levels of our society, including the tertiary institutions. It is not enough to demand for adequate funding of education while our universities are mired in crisis, confusion, fraud and lack of institutional vision. “Let me add that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which was introduced by this administration as part of the measures to curb corruptionisworkingeffectively. It has now become difficult to misappropriate or divert government fund under any guise.” Among the PhD graduating students who were celebrated yesterday was Dr Ifeoma Bibiana Okoli, a visually- impaired scholar and the first female PhD-holder from the Faculty of Education, Special Education Department as well as the university as a whole. She is an indigene of Anambra State. Ifeoma, aka Lady B, who is in her 50s, had her education from first degree to the doctoral level at the University of Ibadan.
In a chat with New Telegraph on the occasion, she passionately appealed to the Federal Government to provide her with teaching job in any of the universities so she can impact others with the knowledge she had acquired. The Chancellor also charged the university administrators to ensure that students were equipped with skills needed by society for the transformation of the country and the world, stressing that the university must instill character in the training of the students, because this what is lacking in the country today. Equally in attendance were the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Kayode Adebowale; Oyo SSG, Mrs Olubanwo Adeosun; thePro-Chancellor, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, among others.
