ASUU Tells Isa Yuguda to Withdraw Comments, Resign as NOUN Pro-Chancellor Over ‘Contempt for Professors’

Malam Isa Yuguda, the former governor of Bauchi State, has been called upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi branch, to publicly retract and resign from his position as Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) due to remarks that it deemed to be an insult to academic integrity and university autonomy.

Yuguda’s comments during a recent National Assembly public hearing on a measure aiming to convert ATBU Bauchi from a technology-based university to a traditional one “shocked and stunned” ASUU.

This was said in a statement that was shared on the ASUU Facebook site on Wednesday and signed by its chairperson, Comrade Angulu Haruna.

The union demanded immediate action from the NUC’s Executive Secretary, the Minister of Education, the Governor of Bauchi State, and President Bola Tinubu, who was visiting the university.

The union claims that Yuguda declared anyone who opposed the planned change to be a criminal, criminalizing dissent to the law.

Additionally, ASUU cited the former governor as stating, “Who the hell are professors for goodness sake!” in reference to professors who opposed the law.

The comments of former Bauchi State governor Malam Isa Yuguba during a recent public hearing on a bill to convert ATBU Bauchi’s mandate from technology-based university to conventional university in the National Assembly have shocked the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Speaking to the media, Malam Isa Yuguda criminalized anyone who opposed the Bill, saying, “Anyone who is against turning the University into a conventional University is a criminal.”

According to a portion of the statement, “The former Governor was not happy with the professors who spoke against the said Bill because it violated the University autonomy and in registering his frustration, he exclaimed who the hell are Professors for goodness sake!”

The union called Yuguda’s remarks “appalling and unfortunate,” particularly coming from a former state chief executive, and stated that attending a public hearing is a constitutional right.

Yuguda, the current Pro-Chancellor of NOUN, showed what ASUU called “total disregard” for teachers, raising concerns about his competency, ethics, and readiness to manage a university system.

The union also denounced a video statement made public by Alhaji Ladan Salihu, a former director-general of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), in which he allegedly denounced the National Universities Commission (NUC) and ATBU administration for their opposition to the bill.

Salihu’s purported assertion that individuals opposed to the law were “the biggest enemies of the people of Bauchi State” alarmed ASUU, which described the comment as yet another danger to academic freedom and university autonomy.