UI Don to Tinubu: Safeguard Public Varsities, FG policies are anti-intellectual

A Development Sociologist at the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Dr. Busari Dauda, has urged the federal government of Nigeria to cease its anti-intellectual education policies.

He emphasied that Nigeria’s development is limited by its educational progress.

Dr. Buhari advised President Bola Tinubu not to let education further deteriorate under his watch if he cannot enhance the existing conditions.

The University Don expressed his stance during the 27th Faculty Lecture of the Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, with the topic “How much is enough? A Random Walk in the Marketplace of Social Research.”

He found it surprising that a government not increasing funding for public universities would consider extracting 40 percent from the meager resources these underfunded institutions generate before rescinding the directive.

The University Don insisted that for President Tinubu to contribute to Nigeria’s development, he must invest in and fund public education, highlighting that the government’s deliberate attack on lecturers would harm the country.

Busari noted, “there is a habit of anti-intellectualism permeating the government’s policies, particularly towards Public Universities, becoming a pitiable reality.” He highlighted the deliberate pauperization of universities, resulting in deteriorating education quality and appalling infrastructural decay in Nigeria’s public universities.

He called for system thinking, pointing out that the deficit in systems thinking is a primary problem causing repeated failure and frustration among Nigerians.

He emphasised the importance of systems thinking in understanding and addressing the complexity of issues, stating that without it, efforts would not achieve sustainable ends in leadership and governance.