The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) has revealed it would go after its members at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) who conferred a professorship on the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami. The Academic body declared Pantami’s professorship as “illegal” saying one cannot be in the Minister's office and be in the classroom at the same time.
The union made this revelation today in Lagos during a press conference chaired by the ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, saying promoting Pantami to the rank of Professor was illegal.
According to Osodeke, it is impossible to be a Minister and a lecturer at the same time, describing the action of FUTO and its senate members as encouragement of illegality.
The academicians gave Pantami the option of either resigning back to the classroom so that he will be accorded the title properly.
He said, “You cannot be a minister and a lecturer in a university. It is an encouragement of illegality.
Osodeke explained, “Pantami has to quit as a minister and be tried for doing double jobs within the same federal system. He is not qualified. Pantami should not be treated as a professor.
He hinted that ASUU has resolved to sanction FUTO for involving itself in playing to the gallery by conferring a professorship on an academician that has been absent in the academic environment for years.
