‘NANS can’t shut private varsities’

The proprietors of private universities in the country
have called on the National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS) to appeal to those managing the
education sector in the country rather than threaten
to seal off privately- owned universities over the
protracted strike embarked upon by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Speaking on the threat by NANS to seal off privately
owned universities at the weekend in Akure, the Vice
Chancellor of Babcock University, Professor James
Makinde and the President of the Western Union of
Seventh Day Adventist Church in Nigeria, Dr Oyeleke
Owolabi, described the threat as an empty one.
Makinde said the students body had no right under
the Nigerian law to take such action over the
lingering ASUU strike, saying all the universities were
licensed to operate under the nation’s law.
The VC, who spoke alongside Dr Owolabi at a press
conference organised during the Union constituency,
said if the failure of NITEL could not affect privately-
owned telecommunications companies in the country,
then the students could not embark on such action.
Similarly, Makinde explained to the students body
that students of private universities are not members
of NANS and could not be forced to participate in the
activities of the body.
He sympathised with the students, who had been kept
out of school for more than eight weeks over the
protracted strike embarked upon by their lecturers,
but advised them to think of a better option of ending
the strike.
He also called on the Federal Government to stop
playing politics with the lives of the students, saying
they are the future leaders.
Speaking on the high cost of acquiring private
university education in the country, Dr Owolabi said
churches in Nigeria had come to the aid of the
education sector and prevented it from collapsing.
He said private universities had provided better
alternative as all public universities had been under
lock and key in the past few months adding that “the
church-owned universities like Babcock, have given
hope to parents and young Nigerians, who need to
acquire tertiary education. Although people complain
of high cost of fees, but considering the time wasted
during strike period like this, one will agree that these
privately-owned institutions are not expensive afterall
as there’s no doubt that one can graduate with a
PHD at the age of 25 in Nigeria.”