The Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye has described the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Emmanuel Osodeke as a careless talker saying universities that do not strike are ‘quacks’.
Professor Adebooye said the state university has 481 full-time academic staff and among them, 387 are full-time Ph.D. holders, “it is not a quack.”
ASUU President, while appearing on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Thursday, mentioned state universities; Osun State University, Kwara State University, Lagos State University and Kwara State University quacks.
According to him, “Kwara State University is not a member of ASUU. Osun State University was expelled from ASUU for misconduct. We are in court with LASU (Lagos State University) because they sacked all our managers over five years ago. They were not part of this fight.”
The UNIOSUN Vice Chancellor responded to ASUU’s demand while answering questions from journalists at a press conference on Friday; announcing the approval and accreditation of the institution’s Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program by the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (NMDC).
It will be recalled that UNIOSUN started the MBBS program with the approval of the National Universities Commission in 2012. The program was stopped soon after due to some operational challenges that led to the transfer of the enrolled students to Ukraine by the state government for their programs.
Professor Adebooye noted that the NMDC not only approved the MBBS program but also increased the admission quota for the program from 50d to 100 students.
“Between January and August 2022, our academic staff members showed the “can do spirit” in research and they excelled in this world of tough but healthy competition for research grants. I am happy to inform you that we have six grants amounting to about US$300,000 in the last 8 months,” he said in his speech.
Meanwhile, while reacting to the ASUU President’s statement, the Vice-Chancellor said Osun State University is taking very serious exception for calling the institution a quack university and demanded the withdrawal of Professor Osodeke’s statement.
According to him, the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUA), where ASUU president teaches, does not have UNIOSUN’s achievements.
“ASUU president should check my profile, I cannot preside over quack university. He expressed his opinion and it is his, the University he teaches does not have our achievements.
“He was here this year and praised the quality of what he saw here, the infrastructure, just a few universities. Osun state university takes very serious exception for calling the institution a quack university.
“He should not talk about what he does not know if he wants to continue to be a true professor. A real professor finds facts and bases of whatever they say, he needs to be educated, I challenge him to be educated.
