The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Victor Emmanuel Osodeke, received harsh criticism from the management of Kaduna State University on Saturday for his remark that certain State-owned universities in Nigeria are substandard.
During a live interview on pressing national issues, the ASUU President had called several State-owned colleges in Nigeria “quacks.”
In a statement issued on behalf of the management, Adamu Nuhu Bargo, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Kaduna State University, responded, “The unguarded, false, and disparaging comment made by the ASUU National President stunned the whole world.”
The statement claimed that ASUU is clearly not fighting for a better educational system in Nigeria, but rather for self-aggrandizement and reckless behavior.
The question posed was whether the professor of soil science truly understood what the term “quack” meant.
“Quack means a person who dishonestly claims to have knowledge and skill in some field with little or no foundation, as better exemplified by professionals,” he said.
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He claimed that KASU, which was founded 18 years ago with eminent scholars like Prof. Idris A. Abdulkadir, OFR, and Prof. Abubakar A. Rasheed, MFR, as the pioneer Council members, is a new generation university and the second most sought-after State-owned university, as well as the fastest growing in Nigeria. He added that those scholars ensured that the appointments of qualified lecturers were never compromised.
He said that the fundamental idea of enlisting academic and non-academic employees had persisted, and that it was still the basis and ethical desire to uphold the same.
According to him, “KASU is recognized by NUC as a standard University, KASU has some of the best brains that are competing favorably with their counterparts around the globe,” adding that the world No 4 best polymer chemist is in KASU.
He said that KASU professors were well regarded and had won funds from both domestic and foreign sources.
He said that ASUU includes members of KASU and that it was terrible that the president of ASUU was calling them quacks while collecting monthly deductions from their wages.
“Does this not give a good reason for every reasonable academic staff in the university to pull off from the Union for this labelling and stereotyping?” He asked.
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