NAAT decries low rating of Nigeria’s universities in global rankings 

The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has attributed the low rating of Nigerian universities in global rankings to the allocation of inadequate budget to the education sector.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of its 34th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the University of Lagos.

The communiqué, which was signed by the National President of the union, Sani Suleiman and General Secretary, Hamilton Iyoyo, noted that the absence of any Nigerian university in the top 500 varsities in the world was a cause for concern.

It said the situation was not unconnected with the low budgetary allocation given to Education yearly, which has consistently fallen below the UNESCO benchmark of 26 per cent.

NAAT, therefore, urged the federal and the state governments to prioritise education in budgetary provisions to ensure overall development of the country.

“This is in line with the National Policy on education, which posits that, ‘no nation can rise above the level of education of its people.”

The union also flayed the non-implementation of the agreement the Federal Government reached with NAAT several years after the consummation of the deal, saying, “It is worrisome to note that in recent times, Labour Unions from different spheres have embarked on strikes over one issue – which is that government does not honour agreements it freely entered into with the unions.

“NAAT, therefore, urged government to honour and implement agreements with unions to forestall unquantifiable losses in man-hours, negative impact on the economy and other losses occasioned by incessant strikes.”

The union commended some government agencies for the discovery and seizure of arms illegally imported into the country recently.

It urged government to sustain the trend by deploying all necessary machinery to checkmate security threats and ensure diligent prosecution of culprits to serve as deterrent to others.

The union also noted the marginal improvement in electricity supply as observed in some parts of the country.

It observed that government should, however, not relent by ensuring continuous improvement in the supply to reach every part of the country.