(ASUU), PROTESTING IN AWKA ON MONDAY
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka chapter, have embarked on a protest to sensitise the public to the union’s resolve to continue with the ongoing strike.
Addressing the public at Awka on Monday, the chairman of the union, Prof. Ike Odimegwu, noted that there could be dire consequences if the Federal Government failed to meet its obligation.
He said that the argument by government that there was no money was untenable because the government budgeted and spent more on issues that were not as important as education.
“There is enough money in the country to fund education.
“Currently Nigeria is among the countries that budget the least for education in the entire world and this is unfortunate.
“But poorer countries like Togo, Niger, Somalia, Liberia are budgeting much more than Nigeria for the education of their citizens.
“Last week, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar submitted the proposed budget for the Nigerian centenary village in Abuja, N3.2 trillion.
“So, we have up to N3.2 trillion to plan a centenary village, but we do not have N400 billion to give to all our children.”
Flanked by the zonal coordinator, Nsukka zone, Dr Chidi Osuagwu, Odimegwu, however, said that the union was disposed to dialogue on how to move the nation’s education forward.
The dialogue, he said, should not include sacrificing the very substance of the agreement made with the federal government in 2009 and 2012.
According to him, if the already three-month-old strike fails, there will be a number of negative consequences for the Nigerian education sector.
“If the strike fails the average student in a federal university will have to pay not less than N200,000 as school fees and this is not ordinary speculation.
“If this strike fails, over 80 per cent of Nigerian parents will be unable to fund the education of their children in Nigerian universities.
“Our universities will continue to turn out unemployable graduates and our students, our graduates, will find it increasingly difficult to get admission outside this country.
“I am sure that this is not what Nigerians have bargained for,” he said.
While fielding questions from newsmen, the chairman denied insinuations that the decision of the union to embark on the strike was politically motivated.
According to him, the 2009 agreement and 2012 memorandum of understanding it signed with the federal government were not politically motivated.
“It was not politics when the government drew up the road map to fund the universities education with N100 billion in 2012, N400 billion in 2013, N400 billion in 2014 and N400 billion in 2015.”
The protesting lecturers carried placards.
Some of the placards read: “Save education, join ASUU”, “Nigeria needs quality universities”, “ASUU strike, no going back”, “Kill education kill development” and “FG: Agreement is agreement.”
