Varsities calling off their strike are “quacks.” – ASUU
According to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), state universities encouraging their students to return to class despite the lecturers’ ongoing strike are “quacks.”
The union also urged parents to liaise with the Federal Government to enhance education funding rather than paying an additional N10,000 on top of their children’s tuition fees to support higher education in the nation, as suggested on Wednesday by the National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria.
In a similar spirit, the union once more rejected the Federal Government’s threat to withhold the salaries of its members while they were on strike.
ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke said that the union’s strike was in the best interest of the country’s educational system while appearing on Arise TV’s “The Morning Show,” on Thursday.
Kwara State University is not a member of ASUU, Osodeke remarked in response to the state universities’ appeal for the resume of academic activity. Osun State University’s membership in ASUU was terminated due to misbehavior. Because LASU (Lagos State University) fired all of our leaders more than five years ago, we are in court with LASU. They were not involved in this conflict.
“ASUU does not run a university. The government has the right to say, ‘we have reopened.’ Our members have the right to say, ‘that’s good for you. We are not teaching because we are on strike.’
“As it happened in Gombe State University, Yobe State University, and Kaduna State University. I just cited those examples. They are irrelevant (the call for resumption). Is Ibadan on strike? Is UNN on strike? Is ABU on strike? Is BUK on strike? Is Maiduguri on strike? Is Lagos on strike? Let’s talk about proper universities, not those quacks.”
He replied, “Yes,” when one of the anchors pointed out that he had tagged the state universities quack institutions.
Emmanuel Osodeke responded to the National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria’s recommendation that parents pay N10,000 to assist the universities, saying that the parents should tell the government to carry out its duties instead of considering making such a contribution.
They ought to go see the President and implore him to honor their agreement and give education first priority in the nation. Use Nigerian citizens’ money to pay education, not the president’s, as is the practice in other nations. If you accomplish that, the nation will prioritize education as its first priority.
He suggested that parents go to the National Assembly and urge the legislators to increase education budgets.
The labor leader claimed that because of what the government had done wrong, parents were already paying the N10,000.
“When we were students, we stayed in subsidized hostels. As students, we received bursaries, but they are all gone now. All such duties have been handled by parents.
According to him, Nimi Brigg’s report to the government about the union’s requests contains all of the financial sources for public tertiary education in the nation.
He explained that the government would plunder the cash if parents paid the N10,000. He claims that the fund is not the answer.
“The amount we are requesting for this revival is lower than the amount they recently released for school lunches. They made available N200 billion for school meals. For tradermoni, they released N400 billion. One individual received N170 billion. That is the problem.
Emmanuel Osodeke also made note of the fact that academics in rich countries engage in strikes, much like ASUU, and emphasized that the only distinction is how quickly the governments of affluent countries respond to the requests of their citizens.
“When you look at the amount of strikes that Nigerian academics have participated in, it is equal to the number of strikes that lecturers in the UK have participated in. There won’t be more than three days when the UK government intervenes.
“For us, these problems can be fixed in a day if the priority is there,” he continued. If our leaders raised their children in Nigerian universities in the same manner that British leaders raised their children in British institutions, the issues would be solved rapidly
They don’t seem to care because their kids aren’t here.
He asked the government to carry out the terms of the union’s contract while rejecting the government’s threat to “no work, no pay” for ASUU members.
