ASUU under fire for describing proposed 'Muhammadu Buhari University' as a joke

Aisha, who did not reveal when or where the university would be sited, explained that it would be established in collaboration with partners from Sudan and Qatar.

Wife of the President, Aisha, says she has plans to establish the 'Muhammadu Buhari University'. Pulse Nigeria

In a swift reaction, ASUU said the declaration was a sad reminder of the President's continued reduction of budgetary allocation to the education sector since 2015.

ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Deji Omole and a former National Treasurer of the union, Prof. Ademola Aremu described the proposed university a joke.

“When I also heard about the proposed private university to be named after Mr President, I just looked at it as a joke taken too far," Omole said. "If we have a president in a country that has simply refused to fund public education and all we get from the first family is to establish a private university in collaboration with some foreigners. To me, I think it is a disaster for this country and for a sitting president.

“The implication is that Nigerians should know that this leadership does not believe in public funded education. Nigerians should support the struggle for the government to take education as a core investment upon which this country will be liberated. It is not the children of the rich that will solve the problems of Nigeria but the children of the poor and the tool they need is quality education.”

Aremu advised Mrs Buhari to influence her husband’s policies to immortalize himself by revitalizing public-funded education.

However, Scholars Without Boundary (SWB), faulted the position of the academic union on the yet-to-be established tertiary institution.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, the scholars through its president, Ibrahim Taiwo, accused ASUU seems of abandoning its major responsibilities of contributing to the peace and development of Nigeria for frivolities and diversionary irrational debates.

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"The chairman, University of Ibadan chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (UI-ASUU) Professor Deji Omole, termed it a disaster and proceeded to slate the Federal Government of Nigeria over the proposed plan of a private university which will adopt the nomenclature of President Buhari," he said.

"In another interview, ASUU’s former national treasurer, Professor Ademola Aremu advised Mrs. Buhari to influence policies in education for the President Buhari’s administration to revitalize public-funded education because universities are proliferated in the country.

"First, they wrongly aligned the idea of a private university from private investors as conflicting with the public office held by President Buhari.

"These gentlemen ought to be aware that Mrs. Buhari is even stripped of the informal, bogus and influence-peddling appellation of 'First Lady of Nigeria, and this detachment is reason she is simply addressed with the prefix, 'Wife of the President'.

"To put it bluntly, the duo’s personalized criticisms of a proposed private university to be named after President Buhari, which they coat with the garments of ASUU, is an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians. None of the arguments projected against it is matured or sensible.

"As Nigeria’s former Petroleum Minister, Military Head of State and now, two tenured democratic leader of the nation, President Buhari has no single national monument or institution named after him and he is not bothered. Naming a private university after him is the least of his concerns," he added.

Recalling President Buhari's achievements in fixing the economy and the fight against Boko Haram and corruption, the group advised members of the ASUU to dissipate their energies on productive engagements to assist in the development of Nigeria.