Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denied saying he would hand over federal universities to states if elected president in 2023.
The former vice-president stated this in a statement through his media aide, Paul Ibe.
According to Ibe, Atiku is not going to remove education from the concurrent list if elected president in 2023. The concurrent list contains items that both the federal and the state government can legislate on.
Atiku had on Monday at the opening of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) general conference in Lagos, narrated how a professor once asked him why he plans to return education to the states.
Speaking on his conversation with the professor, Atiku narrated, “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 or 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.”
Following this, Atiku was quoted by the media to have pledged to hand over federal universities to states.
But clarifying the statement by his principal, Ibe said there was a “mischievous misinterpretation” of what the PDP presidential candidate said.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku did not say that he will hand over federal universities to state governments if he is elected president come February next year.
“The report is false, untrue, unfounded and not a true reflection of what Atiku Abubakar said while responding to a question on devolution of powers, a key component of his policy framework.
“What the PDP presidential candidate referred to was his plans for a phased devolution of power to the federating units.
“In answering the question posed to him, Atiku Abubakar merely recalled his engagement with a university professor where he argued that the United States of America shared similarities with the first set of universities in Nigeria which belonged to the regional governments and noted that with proper planning and phased devolution of power, federal universities that have now become unwieldy could be made to work better under the component federating units. He also maintained that education would remain on the concurrent list under his administration when elected.
“We wish to restate Atiku Abubakar’s avowed commitment to education as a game changer for socio-economic development and national security. He remains concerned about the prolonged strike by university teachers and restates his position that under his watch the ASUU-FG imbroglio will be better managed in the interest of both the students and academic staff.”