ASUU: Rich, Poor Children Will Attend Different Varsities Under My Gov’t – Atiku

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, said his administration will ensure that the children of the poor and rich attend different categories of universities if he wins the presidency in 2023.

According to him, public universities would be put in good shape and reserved for the poor while the rich will send their children to private universities in Nigeria and abroad because they can afford it.

Atiku spoke on Tuesday during the 26th Alumni Conference of the Lagos Business School monitored by our correspondent.

The conference tagged ‘The Leadership Imperative’ was held at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos.

During a question and answer session moderated by Dr. Muda Yusuf, CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Atiku was asked to share his plan to permanently end incessant strikes by public universities in the country.

The former vice-president suggested that the number of public varsities in the country should be “as minimal as possible” but well-funded and made available to only the children of the poor.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t have public universities, but as minimally as possible. Because I believe very many of you here send your children to the United States.

“I don’t know whether there are public universities in the United States. I had a very heated argument with a professor when he read through my policy document and saw where I said look,…not that we will not have public universities, but the children of the poor should be the ones that should benefit from our policies in public universities.

“The children of the well-to-do, or the middle class who can afford to send their children to private universities in Nigeria or abroad can do that. But I will make sure the children of the poor go to public universities.

“What I mean is that there will be a change of policy whereby, just like in the United States, if you are from a poor family, you will have your scholarship or you will have your loan.”

Atiku further spoke on how he intends to address the challenge of out-of-school children if he gets the opportunity.

A Demographic Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2015 by UNICEF and the Nigerian Government put the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria at 13.2 million.

In 2022, UNICEF reported that the figure had risen to 18.5 million children.

Atiku said having been raised in a “very poor family”, he understands the importance of providing free public education to assist the poor.

He blamed the state government’s failure to properly utilize monies collected from education tax and made available to them by the federal government for the rising number of out-of-school children in the country.

“So, I am going to make sure that public education is well funded but meant principally for the children of the poor.

“We believe that the money we collect as education tax and remit to the states and the local governments are not being utilized to provide that free education,” he added, noting that if elected president, his administration ensure implementation of that policy.