Joseph EMERIBE
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other related unions to call off their strike to allow students go back to classrooms.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari made the appeal on Friday while speaking at a Special Convocation ceremony organised to confer Honorary Doctorate Degree on a business mogul, Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi by the University of Maiduguri.
It could be recalled that President Buhari on Tuesday the 19th of July 2022, gave the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu two weeks ultimatum to resolve the issue with the striking lecturers and other sister unions leading to the closure of public Universities in the country.
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State also recently spoke against the strike, stressing that basic education and vocational school should be more encouraged in the country.
“Let me say a little about education which is in the public domain now; especially the ASUU strike. Our education system is not properly articulated. The basic education every country thrives to attain is secondary school and vocational schools. When you have these qualifications, you will be able to use it to startup something
I am not ashamed that I have just first degree with my deputy having a PhD certificate” Governor Umahi added.
More so, rising from its congress held in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, the President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke accused the Federal Government of being insensitive and inconsistent in handling negotiation toward resolving the ongoing industrial action.
“I know a large number would have moved out of the country, mainly because of the way they are being treated. As there is no country in the world where their academics will be on strike and you’ll say the best way to break them is to seize their salary thereby using hunger as a weapon.
Lecturers in the U.K and Ghana went on strike and under two days it got resolved by their government but here they felt nonchalant because they are not committed to the plight of student in Nigeria as their children and wards patronizes schools abroad”.
He added that “for any country to develop, people must make sacrifices. And that’s what they are doing. If by this strike schools are well funded, students live in good hostels, stay in good classrooms… they would have made sacrifices for their future generation”
Council of Students Union Presidents in Nigeria, composed of all student Union presidents of federal Universities, also threatens to block the international airport and major roads of the federal capital territory should the issues leading to the strike be left unresolved.
“We call for the immediate removal of the Minister of Education- Adamu Adamu, and the Minister of Labour- Chris Ngige. We are going to shut down the Airport. We are going to block major roads in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and we’ll start receiving lectures at the ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour”
Meanwhile, today being the 14th of August makes it six months since academic activities came to a standstill at the nation’s public Universities.
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