Newsonline reports that Atiku Abubakar stated this at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference held on Monday at Eko Hotel in Lagos.
Atiku said the Federal government has no money to operate and finance universities, citing the United States and other European countries where universities are either owned by the state governments or private individuals.
The former vice president also stated that university education worked in Nigeria during the regional government era in the country, which he intends to replicate by returning ownership of universities to state governments.
Atiku who was a panelist among other presidential candidates said, “The only way is to make sure that you make conducive environment available to both foreign and local investors to participate in our country, whether it is infrastructure, whether it is education, whether it is power,” he said.
He further said, “I had an argument with a university professor from Federal University, Lokoja. He said he read in my policy document that I intended to devolve, in other words, to return education to the states. How dare I do that?
“I said, ‘Mr. Professor, do you realize that the first set of our universities belongs to the regional governments?’ He said, ‘Yes’. I said who are the successors of the regional government. He said the states.
“I said the children you send to America, to England, who own those universities? Mostly the private sector. So, why is it that you think we cannot do it here? We don’t have the money.”
Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since February 14, 2022, over lack of funding by the Federal government.
The six months strike is yet to be resolved as the Federal government is yet to meet the demand of ASUU.
FG has issued a directive for the total implementation of the Cybercrimes Act 2024. …
Nigeria's agricultural sector has long been a significant contributor to national growth, with the potential…
IPOB has declared May 30th Sit-At-Home Day to pay tribute to Biafran Soldiers. NewsOnline…
FG has vowed not to pay ₦615,000 Minimum Wage demand to the Organized Labour claiming…
European Countries that are giving Work visas to Nigerians with ease in 2024 can be…
At the 2024 Medic West Africa Event, organised by ABCHealth in collaboration with Informa Markets,…