The Kaduna State University (KASU) has knocked president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Professor Emmanuel Osodeke for labelling some Nigerian universities as quacks.
Osodeke had in a recent interview referred to some state-owned including KASU as quacks for not joining the ongoing ASUU strike.
A statement signed by the university’s spokesperson Adamu Bargo on behalf of the acting vice-chancellor has described the statement as “irresponsible, unguarded, misleading and derogatory”.
He said resuming academic activities, as their good conscience in KASU dictated, would never have been a reason for the institution to be insulted and stereotyped.
Bargo explained ‘quack’ as meaning a person who dishonestly claimed to have knowledge and skill in some field with little or no foundation.
He noted that for the benefit of hindsight, KASU, as a new generation university and the second most-sought state-owned University and the fastest growing in Nigeria, was established 18 years ago with eminent scholars like Prof. Idris Abdulkadir and Prof. Abubakar Rasheed as the pioneer council members.
“The scholars/administrators made sure appointments of qualified lecturers were never compromised and the foundation, ethical determination to sustain same remained the basic principle of engaging academic and non-academic staff,” he said.
Bargo said that KASU was recognised by NUC as a standard University and had some of the best brains competing favourably with their counterparts around the globe.
“The world’s number four best polymer chemist is in KASU and our lecturers have attracted grants both locally and internationally and are highly rated.
“KASU graduates are rated among the best in the world and enjoying scholarships from different parts of the country and the globe.
“KASU has members in ASUU, and it is unfortunate if the union’s President is saying that they are quacks, while enjoying monthly check-off fees from their salaries.
“Does this not give good reason for every reasonable academic staff in the University to pull off from the Union for this labeling and stereotyping?”
Bargo expressed discontent, saying that the highest stage of irresponsibility was insulting fellow colleagues in academia.
He noted that leadership in academia way about mutual respect and mentoring while also living by good example.
He asked why the ASUU president failed to mention Ambrose Alli University as quack where he came from, which had also pulled out from the strike long before KASU management decided to resume academic activities, in spite of the strike.
Bargo restated the claims that ASUU went on strike to be rejecting IPPIS for UTAS, noting that KASU had nothing to do with how other employees were paid in a country where education is on the concurrent list.
He said the release of funds to revitalise the infrastructure of the universities, which was also a reason for ASUU strike, was being determined by the economy and income of government and not by any strike.
“Also, release of the White Paper on Visitation Panels has nothing to do with state universities and KASU should not stunt its progress in a protracted strike that is becoming unreasonably insensitive.
“When ASUU in KASU joined the strike in 2019 and government paid the 40 per cent salary for work done for the month, ASUU National did virtually nothing positive beyond ranting for the outstanding 60 per cent which had not been paid till date,” Bargo said.
He called on academic staff on strike in KASU to reason and be more concerned with their university and people than the attitude of their leaders that labelled them as quacks.
