The threat last week by the National Association of Nigerian Students to attack private universities on purpose to shut them and force the federal government to move quickly to resolve the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities was ill-advised, to say the least.
Many Nigerians sympathise with the students and blame the government for appearing to take an otherwise serious national question with levity. But that would not justify any attempt to disrupt the activities of the private universities who are not in a position to address the crisis in the public universities.
The private universities are not the problem of the university system. They are, instead, a great relief to the system, in a country where, annually, over 1.6 million candidates struggle for places in higher institutions of learning with a combined admission capacity of about 500, 000. Imagine what Nigeria would be like without the over 50 private universities.
