Outgoing Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole, reflects on his tenure, OLUFEMI ATOYEBI writes
What do you expect the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari to do to raise the standards in the education sector?
I will first tell him that it is easier to get to office than to succeed in it. I will tell him to minimise the number of visits and start working hard. The period of honeymoon is about six months after which he will start facing hard tackles from Nigerians who are expecting so much from him. People are expecting the exchange rate to drop; they want improved electricity, good road and water. Between now and May 29, he will need to sit down and constitute a credible team that will be a rich blend of politicians and technocrats.
There are minefields in the education sector. There are agreements on ground and the unions, especially the Academic Staff Union of Universities, will tackle Buhari if he fails to act in his first six months in office.
The outgoing administration signed an agreement with the union and promised the release of N1.3tr to the universities. It has released less than N200bn of the promised fund so far. So, Buhari will have to find money to pay for the settlement of the 2014 and 2015 agreement.
If he cannot get money immediately, he will have to call ASUU to a meeting and tell its members that he needs a breathing space on the challenges he inherited. He must state his reasons and I am sure that the union, being an association of responsible people, will listen to him. The President cannot pretend that the agreement does not exist.
He will have to do a surgical operation in the education sector. We need to rebuild from the foundation. We must not only pay attention to tertiary education, we also need to pay attention to tertiary and secondary education systems. Education cannot be an orphan; Buhari must put in place a mechanism to rebuild education in the country. People should not see the education sector as an item of expenditure but a short path to national development.
What do you expect the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari to do to raise the standards in the education sector?
I will first tell him that it is easier to get to office than to succeed in it. I will tell him to minimise the number of visits and start working hard. The period of honeymoon is about six months after which he will start facing hard tackles from Nigerians who are expecting so much from him. People are expecting the exchange rate to drop; they want improved electricity, good road and water. Between now and May 29, he will need to sit down and constitute a credible team that will be a rich blend of politicians and technocrats.
There are minefields in the education sector. There are agreements on ground and the unions, especially the Academic Staff Union of Universities, will tackle Buhari if he fails to act in his first six months in office.
The outgoing administration signed an agreement with the union and promised the release of N1.3tr to the universities. It has released less than N200bn of the promised fund so far. So, Buhari will have to find money to pay for the settlement of the 2014 and 2015 agreement.
If he cannot get money immediately, he will have to call ASUU to a meeting and tell its members that he needs a breathing space on the challenges he inherited. He must state his reasons and I am sure that the union, being an association of responsible people, will listen to him. The President cannot pretend that the agreement does not exist.
He will have to do a surgical operation in the education sector. We need to rebuild from the foundation. We must not only pay attention to tertiary education, we also need to pay attention to tertiary and secondary education systems. Education cannot be an orphan; Buhari must put in place a mechanism to rebuild education in the country. People should not see the education sector as an item of expenditure but a short path to national development.
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