Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, promised Nigerian lawyers that he will hand over Federal Government-owned universities to state governments if he emerges president in 2023.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made the vow when he addressed the lawyers in the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference.
The event theme ‘Bold Transitions’ is currently holding at the Eko Atlantic City in Lagos State and will run until August 26.
Atiku said that “The only way is to make sure that you make a conducive environment available to both foreign and local investors to participate in our country, whether it is infrastructure, whether it is education, whether it is power.
“I argued with a university professor from Federal University, Lokoja. He said he read in my policy document that I intended 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, to 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.”
Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been on strike following the failure of the Federal Government to meet their demands.
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‘I’ll Hand Over Federal Universities to State Governments’ – Atiku (photos)