By Ejiofor Toochi
It’s the third week since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) commenced a four-week warning strike in public universities across the country, and the Nigerian Government is yet to meet the union’s demands, citing a lack of funds as the cause.
In a recent interview with Channels TV, Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige confirmed that the Federal Government didn’t have the means to fulfil its responsibilities as stated in the ASUU agreement, adding that they were considering renegotiating the terms of the deal.
However, the National President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke sees the response of the authorities as unserious and ignorant. He feels they’re playing games because just recently did the President Muhammadu Buhari approved the donation of one million dollars to Afghanistan as well as $8.5m to evacuate 5,000 Nigerians from Ukraine.
Speaking during an interview with The PUNCH, the ASUU boss highlighted how the people in authority send their children to study overseas while ignoring the country’s educational system.
“The Nigerian type of politician does not take education seriously. They are increasing their tour allowances. You know they move around all over the world. You saw the wife of the president celebrating birthday in Dubai and all the governors’ wives were there with their aides. They have hundreds of millions of naira for their children’s education in the UK; they have money, government money. But to fund education, they don’t have money. It’s a class issue,” Osodeke lamented.
To solve the issue, he suggested the government either shut down the institutions and send all students to “learn mechanics”, or fund the universities.
On February 14, ASUU began a one-month warning strike, to demand wage raises, a university revitalization fund, and the implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software, among other issues.
