President Jonathan frowns at disruption of Academic activities in Universities

President Jonathan frowns at disruption of Academic activities in Universities

President Goodluck Jonathan has frowned at the frequent strikes and disruptions of academic activities in tertiary institutions, particularly universities in the country, saying this has negatively affected the quality and output of the system.

He has therefore, called on the staff unions of these institutions to continue to emphasise dialogue in the resolution of conflict or any misunderstanding.

Jonathan who was represented by the supervising minister of education, Nyesom Wike, spoke yesterday while declaring open the 2nd National Education Innovations Exhibition holding at Old Parade Ground, Abuja.

Jonathan, who spoke against the backdrop of the over four-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as well as the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), said there was the need for all Nigerians to demonstrate “a sense of patriotism in dealing with situations that involve the future of our children and country”.

He said: “We need therefore to be conscious of the impact on our children, institutions and the country at large, of unnecessary disruptions in our educational institutions. There is therefore the need to emphasize dialogue where conflict or any sort of misunderstanding arose. This is the civilized approach to doing things so as not to have negative effect on society.”

He added that with so much investment in higher education by his administration, the challenge should be on getting value for the nation, saying this value must be in relation to quality education and research output.

President Jonathan, while challenging universities and other tertiary institutions on innovativeness, stressed that tertiary institutions must provide the necessary leadership in providing the body of knowledge to move the country forward.

He maintained that the position of Nigeria as a great nation in this and subsequent centuries would be dependent on how the education system is repositioned in order to drive the nation’s development and competitive advantage.

Jonathan further charged the tertiary institutions in the country to link their output with national development needs, adding that higher institutions should be able to develop collaborative arrangements with the private sector to enhance getting their work into the wider society.

He revealed that as part of efforts to improve on the creativity amongst the youth in the country, his administration has, in the past three years, provided over 70million English language, Mathematics, Basic Science and Technology activity books for primary 1 to 6.

Jonathan said over 7 million library resource materials have also been provided for junior secondary schools, while TETFund has in the High Impact fund, provided over N109 billion in the five phases to support tertiary institutions in enhancing their capacity as centres of excellence.

Wike disclosed that the federal government will, in the next few days, release the sum of N3 billion under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Research Scheme, as initial grant to support educational institutions and individuals in research and innovation across the country.

He urged the tertiary institutions in the country to appreciate the huge investment of the federal government in the sector and ensure that there is commensurate return on investment through notable achievements in research and innovation.