By Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Segun Ajiboye, yesterday said the union was set to develop a framework to strengthen public universities in the country.
Ajiboye, who stated this during a chat with newsmen in Ibadan, declared that “Nigeria may not achieve the desired development until the federal government is ready to stop paying lip service to a committed funding of public education in the country.”
He said ASUU and other unions within the university system would develop a philosophy of education intended to catalyse development and liberate Nigerians, adding that “it is glaring now that no country can develop beyond her education.”
Ajiboye berated the National Universities commission (NUC) for the rot in the nation’s education system through what he called ‘black market’ accreditation of universities, adding that there might be the need to regulate the activities of the agency.
He advised the government to stop adopting the neo-liberal policies of World Bank but to embrace and utilise indigenous university research findings to fast-track Nigeria’s development.