PDP Presidential candidate , former Vice President Atiku Abubakar , has taken time to clarify his earlier comments about what the status of federal universities in the country would be if elected as president next year.
Atiku had as a panelist during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association , NBA on Monday which was held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, made passing comments about his plans for the education sector.
Atiku was apparently made a victim of interpretative journalism.
‘The only way is to make sure that you make an enabling environment available to both foreign and local investors to participate in the economy of our country, whether it is infrastructure, whether it is education, whether it is power.
I had an argument with someone , who is a university professor at the Federal University, Lokoja. He said he read in my policy document that I intended to devolve, in other words, to return education to the states. How dare do I do that?
I said, ‘Mr Professor, do you realize that the first set of our universities belonged to the regional governments?’ He said, ‘Yes’. I said who are the successors of the regional government? He said ‘the states’.
I said the children you send to America, to England, who own those universities? Mostly the private sector. So, why is it that you think we cannot do it here? We don’t have the money’ he had said.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Ibe, has however issued a statement to clarify that the presidential candidate had only referred to his plans for a phased devolution of power to the federating units.
‘For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku did not say that he will hand over Federal universities to state governments if he is elected president in February next year.
The report is false, untrue, unfounded, and not a true reflection of what Atiku Abubakar said while responding to a question on devolution of powers, a key component of his policy framework.
What the PDP presidential candidate referred to was his plans for a phased devolution of power to the federating units.
The report in some sections of the media is therefore a misleading and false account of what transpired when the PDP Presidential candidate fielded questions as a panelist at the opening ceremony of the NBA conference.
In answering the question posed to him, Atiku Abubakar merely recalled his engagement with a university professor where he argued that the United States of America shared similarities with the first set of universities in Nigeria which belonged to the regional governments and noted that with proper planning and phased devolution of power, federal universities that have now become unwieldy could be made to work better under the component federating units. He also maintained that education would remain in the concurrent list under his administration when elected.
We wish to restate Atiku Abubakar’s avowed commitment to education as a game changer for socio-economic development and national security. He remains concerned about the prolonged strike by university teachers and restates his position that under his watch the ASUU-FG imbroglio will be better managed in the interest of both the students and academic staff.
To underscore his commitment to addressing the structural deformities in our system, the former Vice President also disclosed that he had empanelled a committee of judiciary experts to draft a presidential position paper which will guide his administration, if elected, from day one, on the terms and conditions of transfer of power and resources to the other layers of government aimed at making the federal government leaner and more effective in its core functions.
We implore media organizations to be wary of unfounded stories in the course of carrying out their constitutionally guaranteed responsibility of informing, educating, and entertaining the people’ Ibe submitted- Team@orientactualmags.com
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