The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to hand over federal universities to states if elected president in 2023.
Atiku stated this in a speech at the opening ceremony of the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos on Monday.
He said that his administration would pursue various reforms, one of which is to encourage the private sector in developing the country.
According to him, the private sector would be encouraged to drive development in the healthcare and education sectors especially.
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“One of the fundamental reforms I have in my policy document is to encourage the private sector as far as the development of the country is concerned — both foreign and local. It is very essential because the federal government does not have the resources to do all the things that they want to do.
“The only way is to make sure that a conducive environment is available for the local and foreign investors to participate in the development of our country, whether it is infrastructure, education and healthcare.
“I had an argument with a university professor from Federal University, Lokoja. He said he read in my policy document that I intend to devolve, in other words, to return education to the states. How dare I do that?
“I said: ‘Mr professor, do you realise that the first set of our universities belongs to the regional governments?’ He said, ‘yes’. I said ‘who are the successors of the regional government?’ He said: ‘the states’.
“I said the children you send to America or England, who own those universities? Mostly the private sector. So, why is it that you think we cannot do it here? We don’t have the money,” Atiku said.
The former vice president’s comment came on the heel of a six-month-old strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).