The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared the promotion of Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, as a professor is illegal.
President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, made the declaration at a press conference on Monday following a two-day deliberation of the union’s national executive council (NEC).
According to Osodeke, it is impossible to be a minister and a lecturer at the same time, describing the promotion as encouragement of illegality.
He said: “You cannot be a minister and a lecturer in a university. It is an encouragement of illegality.
“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.
“We have resolved to sanction ASUU members involved in his promotion and the VC of FUTO.”
It can be recalled that Pantami, alongside seven academics, were elevated by the council of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri to the position of professorship at the council’s 186th meeting.