The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said, if elected, his government will hand over Federal Government-owned universities to state governments.

This, he argued, will end the perennial ASUU strikes, saying the Federal Government does not have the resources to effectively run universities.

Atiku stated this on Monday as a panelist at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Nigerian Bar Association’s Annual General Conference held in Lagos with the theme: ‘Bold Transitions’. The week-long conference will run until August 26.

Speaking during the panel session, Atiku said the Federal Government does not have infinite resources.

“The only way is to make sure that you make conducive environment available to both foreign and local investors to participate in our country, whether it is infrastructure, whether it is education, whether it is power.

“I had an argument with a university professor from Federal University, Lokoja. He said he read in my policy document that I intended to devolve, in other words, to return education to the states. How dare you do that?

“I said, ‘Mr Professor, do you realise that the first set of our universities belong to the regional governments?’ He said, ‘Yes’. I said who are the successors of the regional government? He said the states.

“I said the children you send to America, to England, who own those universities? Mostly the private sector. So, why is it that you think we cannot do it here? We don’t have the money.”

Atiku was at the conference with other presidential candidates including Labour Party Peter Obi whose presence drew the loudest ovation on the day.