Ex-VC calls for state of emergency in varsities

The pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Caleb
University, Lagos, Prof Olurotimi Tayo, has
called for the declaration of state of
emergency in the university system.
He said this would equip and develop the
nation’s education sector and rescue it from
collapse.
Prof Tayo said he was making the call because
of the current crisis in the university system
and the failure of the Federal Government to
address the problems in the sector.
The academic spoke at the inauguration of
Makoni Hotels on the Ido-Eruwa Road, Ibadan,
the Oyo State capital.
The former vice chancellor decried
government’s failure to address the nation’s
education needs.
He said: “We must call a spade a spade. We
will recall that Ghana had to shut down its
university system for two years to re-tool and
re-develop. Now, we are sending our children
to Ghana to go and have university education
there. Why can’t we do what is necessary so
that we can have quality education. If that is
what it takes to make sure that we get it right,
then we should do it to make sure we get it
right once and for all.
“The basic thing is that education in Nigeria is
not being fairly treated. If you are going to
have quality development in the nation, you
must have quality education. You cannot
develop anywhere in the world without sound
education.”
The academic, who was the chairman of the
occasion, stressed the importance of adequate
investment in education.
He noted that most other countries developed
by investing adequately in education.
Prof Tayo said: “So, when our governments at
every level refuse to give education priority, it
means there is no future for our development.
What I believe the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) is doing is that it wants the
government to provide what is necessary to
ensure quality education.
“If you have gone through some months and
some years of negotiation and you have agreed
on the way forward, why can’t the government
have the political will to execute that
agreement?
“We went through the system, we grew up in
this system. We are products of the University
of Ibadan (UI). Some of us left Ibadan and
went to the best universities in the world. With
the quality of education we had in Ibadan, we
got Phd without Masters and we came to this
system to help to develop it. But what do we
have now? The government tend to invest on
things that are not germane to development,
neglecting education.”
He lashed out at the government for wasting a
lot of money on non-essential things.
The former vice chancellor cited the case of
the Education Tax Fund (ETF), saying the
government lacked the political will to use the
fund on what it was established for.
Prof Tayo said: “The ETF came on board
because at the point that ASUU was negotiating
for a change in the system, the government
was asking how fund it. ASUU fought for the
establishment of the ETF, saying the
government should make companies to donate
five per cent of their gross profit to education.
“The military, therefore, made a decree
establishing the ETF. Now, ETF’s money is no
longer being spent on education; it’s being
spent on something else. So, where is the
government’s political will to do what is
necessary?”
The Chairman of Makoni Hotels, Olumakinde
Oni, said there is need for adequate funding of
universities to enable the operators produce
quality graduates who would become the
bedrock of the nation’s development.