.Pledges to support autonomy and proper funding for Universities
The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has expressed fear in the conduct of Nigeria’s political class, saying that many in the group are not
interested in supporting reforms.
Speaking at the Chatham House, London, on Tuesday, she charged the Nigerian political class to be more committed to people-oriented reforms towards having a better country.
Chatham House is a global centre for policy research and debate on Africa politics.
Ezekwesili said that government was a mere means of livelihood for many people in the nation’s political class.
The ACPN presidential candidate, who warned that Nigeria was in grave danger of falling into difficulties, which its contemporaries started mitigating many years ago, said that the “time is now for the political
class to chart a way forward.”
She said, “The single biggest challenge during my work as a minister was dealing with the political class – they were not interested in supporting reforms. For many of them, government was a mere means of
livelihood.
“At my core, I have never been able to tolerate injustice, especially when it has to do with the weakest in the society.
Evaluating the lingering strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASSU, she said she would convert varsities’ budgetary funding to annual grants for universities if she became president.
While expressing displeasure with the ongoing strike by members of the Academic Staff Universities Union (ASUU), the ACPN presidential candidate assured Nigerians in a press statement, on Tuesday, that there would be adequate funding for the educational sector if she emerged.
She said, “One of the signature programmes of our administration would be TwentyToeRanking. This initiative will focus on the transformation of 20 Nigerian universities and to raise them up to the league of
world-class institutions within a seven-year period.
“The other signature programme is Grant Autonomy to Federal Universities, which is a core policy change that can facilitate #TwentyTo-eRanking. It implies that our government will grant full
autonomy to public universities.
“Our administration will end the current centralised control of universities by the Federal Government (or state governments over their own funded universities), which over the decades stifled their growth
and performance.
“Most top-ranking government-owned universities around the world are known to thrive as a result of de-balancing of the need for accountability for public resources on the one hand, and preservation of
their academic freedom on the other.”
She also said, “Granting autonomy to federal universities will enable institutional differentiations through a competitive race to the top of their performance in how they attract the best students and top faculty.
