Muhammad Sanusi ll, Emir of Kano, weekend blamed the decline in the nation’s quality of graduates and erosion of confidence in the education system on the unwillingness of governments to honour agreements entered into with Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other educational bodies.
Sanusi, who is the Chancellor of the University of Benin, made the remarks in his address at the university’s 45th convocation ceremony for 2018/2019 graduating students in Benin City.
“My advice to the government is that it must develop the political will to honour all the agreements it entered into with university unions. The frequent distraction of academic calendar of Nigerian universities and the resulting effect of lack of uniformity in the calendar decline the quality of graduates and erosion of the confidence in our system will become a thing of the past.
“Government should be more open to dialogue and should at all times try to involve every stakeholder in the decision-making process.
“In recent times, our public universities have managed to maintain a stable academic calendar apart from occasional hiccups arising from a breach of the agreement between the government and the university, unions; incessant disruptions of academic calendar arising in the late 70s and 90s have almost become a thing of the past,” he said.
While noting that the disagreement between members of ASUU and the Federal Government over the planned implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has died down, he, however, commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government for the relative peace and uninterrupted academic calendar in the nation’s universities.
In his address, President Buhari, who is the visitor to the institution, noted that universities need to be relevant and recognised internationally.
Buhari, represented by Suleiman Yusuf, deputy executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), charged the nation’s universities to do more to achieve the internationalisation, especially in this era of globalisation.
According to him, if you look at the demographics of the various Nigerian universities, it reveals a preponderance of over localisation and over indigenisation with only a few universities, including those owned by the Federal Government having a semblance of national institutions in terms of the national spread of their staff and students population.
“Universities should be more broadminded, less parochial and eschew over indigenisation,” he said.
He, however, directed the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, and NUC to ensure that by 2020 academic session in all federal universities, every local government, all states and all geopolitical zones were represented in the admission of the new intake.
He further directed NUC and JAMB to carry out a comprehensive student audits to ascertain compliance and threatened that the government would not hesitate to apply sanctions against erring institutions.
Earlier in his valedictory address, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Faraday Orunmwense, said 100 students graduated with first-class degree honours, 2274 with second class honours, 4011 second-class honours, 592 with third-class honours while no student made pass degree.
