The leadership of National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) has called on the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ( ASUU) Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, to tender an apology over uncomplimentary statements he made on national TV calling state universities quacks.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Osodeke while granting interview on Arise TV morning show referred to state universities as quacks, saying they have never been members of ASUU.
Asked to comment on the pulling out of ASUU strike by some state universities, Osodeke downplayed the importance of state universities.
He said “Talk about important universities not those quacks. They’re not part of our strike.”
Meanwhile, the president of the apex students’ body, (NANS) Sunday Ashefon, said ASUU president should apologize for the statement.
He said, “That is an unguided statement. Imagine an erudite professor calling universities where his colleagues, who are also professors, work quack universities! This is sad, we condemned this in totality and we demand an apology from him.”
Ashefon added that state universities wouldn’t get any benefit from the demands of ASUU but wasting their efforts and students time joining the strike.
Meanwhile, the Kwara State University on Friday condemned Osodeke for referring to some state universities currently running their academic calendar despite the ongoing strike of the union as “quacks and irrelevant”.
It said such statement was undeserving of an academic don, saying the union’s president should not have denigrated the institutions of learning because of their refusal to join the ongoing strike action by the union.
He added that Osodeke should get educated despite being a professor.
In a statement on Saturday by its Director of University Relations, Dr. Saeedat Aliyu, the institution explained that such statement was uncalled for and would be considered as reckless, adding that it could also be translated to bullying of the higher institutions.
Similarly, , Kwara state University, Malete, (KWASU) has asked Osodeke to retract the statement, saying it’s highly unbecoming of a Professor and ASUU president.
The management of the institution described the statement as derogatory and capable of causing division among the university communities.
