The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has said stories about sexual harassment, extortion and plagiarism emanating from the campuses of universities and other higher institutions are totally unacceptable.
The President also charged university-based unions to work together to ensure that the challenges were rectified.
Buhari was quoted to have said these in the latest bulletin of the Nigerian Universities Commission.
The President was said to have spoken through a director of the commission, Mr John Ahmadu, at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
He was quoted as saying, “The stories emanating from some of our campuses, such as sexual harassment, extortion, plagiarism and other forms of intellectual fraud and corruption are totally unacceptable.
“The unions can do more to assist in addressing these issues for a much better university system.
“Funding is a major problem confronting the Nigerian university system as well the primary basis of incessant industrial actions in the ivory towers.
“We will continue to support the university system through improved funding and infrastructural development. In this regard, my government has repositioned the TETFUND to be able to address the infrastructural gaps in our tertiary institutions.”
He pointed out that his administration had consistently paid serious attention to the issue of university funding.
The bulletin added, “He (Buhari), however, stated that in the light of dwindling resources at all levels, that university managers must remain committed to higher levels of openness, transparency and integrity in the management of scarce resources.
“He tasked them to carefully select their priorities based on adequate planning and budgetary provisions, saying that the ability to establish a sustainable balance between short, medium and long term priorities of an institution was an important hallmark of developmental leadership.”