A member of House of Representatives, Musa S Adar has opined that Northern elders were no longer capable of influencing the direction of elections.
According to Adar, who represents Goronyo/Gada Federal Constituency of Sokoto and is chairman House Committee on Petroleum Resources Upstream, was reacting to a question by newsmen at his residence in Sokoto on Monday.
“Northern elders are like Afenifere. They can no longer influence elections because the youths have taken over. You will realise that 95 percent of party followers are the youths,” the lawmaker said.
He advised them to work on the unity of the country and the North. “They should remain on the gallery and galvanise the unity, and peace of the country; and bridge the gaps.”
Adar also faulted the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) on lower education quality in Nigeria by encouraging the establishment of additional universities when the existing ones were not adequately catered for.
He posited that in the past 40 years, ASUU strikes had recorded no success in improving the condition of Nigeria’s university system.
“This doesn’t make sense at all. They should be fighting for scraping of some of the universities. For me, 36 federal universities are enough in Nigeria, but today we have over than 60 universities; where are we heading to?
“Go to any institution and you will see that a department has only three lecturers with over 2,000 students or lecturers without students.
“We should have fewer universities with enough lecturers and non academic staff as well as infrastructure that will accommodate our large population.
“For instance, with Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, it is not necessary to establish another; instead use the resources to ensure the institution can accommodate the population,” he said.
