VC FUOYE: What the President-Elect needs to do
The Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Prof. Abayomi Fasina, on Tuesday urged President-elect Bola Tinubu to prioritize university autonomy upon assumption of duty.
Prof. Fasina made the appeal during the fourth matriculation ceremony of postgraduate students of the university held in Oye-Ekiti.
He said that a major challenge facing public universities in Nigeria was incessant strike actions by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) as a result of poor funding and lack of infrastructure.
Prof. Fasina also advised the president-elect to appoint technocrats as ministers for agriculture, education, and finance in order to ensure the stability and efficiency of his government.
“I want to appeal to our incoming president-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu to approve university autonomy which will put an end to incessant strikes that always affect the academic calendar of the tertiary institutions.
“FUOYE is moving at a high speed to ensure that our academic calendar is stable and working, but other universities are badly affected as a result of the prolonged strike.
“If the government can employ technocrats who are experts in various fields such as education, economy, agriculture, and business, the development of Nigeria will be rapid in all ramifications,” he said.
He saisaid FUOYE was determined to compete favorably with other older universities in postgraduate studies while his administration would not relent in producing the best students in various academic fields.
Mr. Fasina advised the postgraduate students to attend lectures regularly and carry out their research diligently to enable them to finish their program in record time.
He noted that scholarship awards for best research students and best thesis would soon be introduced in the post-graduate school.
The vice chancellor stated that postgraduate school would soon be offering courses in Mass Communication, Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Linguistics, and Language Education.
Others are Public Administration, History and International Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Science Education, Business Administration, and Political Science.
Corroborating Mr. Fasina’s submission, the Dean of the Postgraduate school of the university, Prof. Raphael Omolehin, said the major challenge facing the rapid growth of universities was the lack of autonomy.
“The university management does not have the power to employ academic staff without taking permission from different government agencies,” the dean said.
He urged the federal government to provide adequate funds for universities and improve staff welfare to end the incessant strikes, which often altered the academic calendar.
VC, dean of FUOYE urge Tinubu to prioritise university autonomy
