ASUU strike: Babcock University VC warns NANS over plans to shut down private universities

President and Vice Chancellor (VC) of Babcock Private University in Nigeria, Prof. James Makinde has urged members of the National Association of Nigerian Students to have a rethink over their plans to shut down all private Universities in the country, following the unresolved Academic Staff Union of Universities’ strike. Makinde made this plea at a Press Conference in Akure, the Ondo State Capital, shortly after the Western Union of Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Nigeria elected its new leaders. The Vice Chancellor warned that such approach will completely bring down the educational sector of the country. He noted that though, private and public tertiary institutions serve the same purposes, the rules guiding both were different. The University Don said the constitution of Nigeria permits any individual or a group to establish schools, stressing that students in private institutions are not part of NANS. His words, “it is highly ridiculous because I have never seen in Nigeria that because NITEL is owned by the government, and shut down, Nigerians will begin to call for the closure of MTN, Glo, Airtel or others owned by the private sector. For this, I don’t know why students will now embark on a protest to shut down private universities because ASUU is on strike. “We are not against the action of the ASUU and we also feel for the students and, that is why we are appealing to the government to find a lasting solution to this issue of strike. But we insist that shutting down of private universities is not the best option to end the issue of strike in Nigerian tertiary institutions”. NANS, at a protest recently in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State Capital threatened to shut down all private universities in the country. The Students had argued that, they have spent over two months at home while children of those who are in power are all in private Universities.