KWASU is Not a Quack Varsity; Management Tells ASUU

The Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, says the institution is founded on the vision of advancing the frontiers of knowledge for the good of society and not a quack university.
The KWASU Director, University Relations, Dr Saeedat Aliyu, said this in a statement on Friday in Ilorin.
Aliyu was reacting to statements credited by the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in his recent media outing on the ongoing strike by the association.
Osodeke labeled KWASU, among some other state owned institutions in Nigeria as “quacks” and “irrelevant” for refusing to join the industrial action.
”KWASU Management considers these statements as undeserving of an academic of Prof. Osodeke’s purported status.
”One who should know better than to denigrate institutions of higher learning for one reason that is unrelated to any factor used to measure the standard of institutions anywhere in the world.
”His statements are tantamount to bullying, they are reckless, uncalled for and a denigration of the status he occupies as national head of the union of academic staff in Nigeria,” Aliyu said.
She added that KWASU was the first public university in Nigeria to extend higher education curriculum to include equipping students with entrepreneurship skills to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
”KWASU is also the leading university which focuses on communities with the aim of solving challenges they face while helping to develop these communities.
”Currently, we are the only university in Nigeria going green in her thinking and activities as proactive measures to save the environment.
”All these reflect in our mantra of ‘the green University for Community Development and Entrepreneurship’.
”Again, we are the first institution in Nigeria to mount Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering as a forward thinking move to develop human capacity for the nation’s aeronautic and astronautic needs,” she said.
The director explained that many of KWASU’s ideas are being replicated by many other institutions which Osodeke eulogised in his uncritical statements.
She added that KWASU has all of its academic programmes accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and requisite professional regulatory bodies.
”As an institution founded barely thirteen years ago, KWASU has made a name for itself as a University which focuses on breaking new grounds,” Aliyu said.
She therefore called for a retraction of what she described as abominable statement and a published apology to KWASU forthwith from Osodeke.
According to her, the institution will not be quiet in the face of slanderous accusations made against its very existence and contributions.