By Peter Idowu Jiya
The Rector of Federal Polytechnic Bida in Niger state, Dr. Abubakar Dzukogi has called on the federal government to abolish Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and other Academic Unions in the nation’s institutions of higher learning, as a measure towards improving hitchfree standard of education in the country.
Dzukogi said curtailing the activities of unions in the nation’s tertiary institutions will pave way for smooth administration of the country’s higher institutions.
He lamented that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), in particular, operates like a parallel body to the administrative leadership of polytechnics, constituting a set back to the institutions.
The Rector, who attributed low quality of education in the country to declining budgetary provision to the higher institutions, berated government for failing to abide by the UNESCO national budgetary requirement of twenty eight percent to fund the educational sector, maintaining that this has been responsible for the rot in the educational sector.
He urged the governmernt to make the teaching profession attractive and not the last resort to lack of jobs, calling for the return of Teacher Training colleges in the country as one of the measures towards tackling the problem.