A professor of veterinary public health at the University of Ibadan’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Idowu Cadmus, has invited the Academic Staff Union of Universities to concentrate more on the welfare of its members and leave the University Council and the government to deal with the problems of tertiary education funding.
According to Cadmus, the union should make sure that the environment is favorable for both teaching and research in order to allow its members to carry out ground-breaking studies and draw financing to the schools.
He provided this counsel at the University of Ibadan’s 512th inaugural lecture, “On The Trail of Two Enigmatic Foes: The Story of an Enthusiast,” which was held at Ibadan.
The university dean stated that ASUU required a more all-encompassing and aggressive engagement structure that would harness many perspectives.
Cadmus urged the administration of the University of Ibadan to make systemic changes to support rigorous academic achievement and research at the university.
He asserted that excessive bureaucratic bottlenecks “strangulate research and frustrate the researcher,” and that researchers should instead be actively encouraged.
In order to facilitate grantsmanship and simple access to grant monies as soon as they are domiciled in the institution, according to Cadmus, the university grant management structure needs to be completely redesigned.
In order to change the narrative, he advised the academicians to come up with creative answers to pressing national and international problems rather than viewing the university as a hub for the civil service.
