Reopen Private Varsities, They Are Not On Same Pedestal With Public Varsities — Afe Babalola, SAN

Aare Afe Babalola, SAN founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti has charged the Federal Government to reopen private Universities shut down by virtue of the Coronavirus pandemic, noting that it is not proper to compare them with public varsities.

This is contained in a statement issued by him on 6th day of September, 2020 in Ado Ekiti which was sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL), titled ‘COVID-19: ASUU vindicated on objection to resumption by public universities’.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) is justified by its ongoing strike action.

“From available facts on the ground, COVID-19 has undeniably vindicated ASUU’s position, protests and grievances over the years about lack of necessary facilities, equipment, and decayed infrastructure.

“This is in sharp contrast to what obtains in private universities most of which are reputed for their moral and physical discipline, quality and functional education, hygienic and safe environment, predictable academic calendar, absence of unionism, committed teachers, modern teaching equipment and laboratories as well as adequate preparation to prevent COVID-19.”

Furthermore, he stated that COVID-19 has “exposed the unpreparedness of public universities in the areas of poor infrastructures, underfunding, inefficiency and corruption which ASUU had documented and published”.

Also, he noted that he was not a fan of ASUU in view of its penchant for strike actions, but then, the action this time around was described as an “understandable strike”.

However, he stressed that private Universities are fully set to reopen and had written to the National Universities Commission (NUC) to verify their claims of compliance with the COVID-19 guidelines.

However, he stated that it is imperative for the Federal Government to note that it will be wrong to place private varsities on the same pedestal with public institutions in assessing whether to reopen schools or not.

“I suggest that the NUC, Ministry of Education and Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 should advise the Federal Government on the danger of lumping public and private universities together when considering whether or not to allow universities to reopen.

“Many of the private universities have full residential facilities for both their staff and students. This makes it possible for teachers in private universities to mentor and monitor their students day and night. Some private universities even have lectures in the night while some have state-of-the-art teaching hospitals and well equipped medical centres.”

Besides, he charged the Federal & State Governments “to concentrate on the provision of the necessary equipment and infrastructure to make the public institutions attractive like their private counterparts.

“Government should adequately fund education so that teachers can be well paid while infrastructure, teaching aids, and research grants will be readily available for them. It is trite to note that no nation develops without a sound educational system and the foundation is really not in primary school. It is the university level education because it is the university that trains other levels.

“It is the university that provides the manpower for other levels of education and that is why you must concentrate efforts on university education. If you don’t do that, other levels of education will suffer and that is what has been happening in Nigeria.” He said.