The Federal Government should honour its agreement with the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in order to end
the ongoing strike that has paralyzed academic activities in
government-owned universities, the All Progressives
Congress (APC) has said.
The party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, said in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday
that no government can afford to play with education,
because it is the path to national
development.
According to the party, ASUU was not making any fresh
demands beyond the agreement it reached with the
government in 2009, adding: “Agreements are meant to be
honoured, and breaching them comes with some
consequences.”
APC said the industrial action by the university lecturers
which has kept students in public universities at home for
many weeks is a further blow to the country’s education
system which has deteriorated so much that no Nigerian
university is currently listed in the top 100 universities in the
world and only a few Nigerian universities have made the top
100 in Africa.
“The 87 billion naira that ASUU is demanding represents
earned allowances hence cannot be renegotiated. In any case,
this amount pales into insignificance when placed side by side
with the 1 trillion naira that has been spent on federal
legislators in the past 8 years; or the frivolity involved in a
government minister travelling to China to negotiate a $1 billion
loan in a chartered jet (with its attendant costs) and with a
retinue of staffers who earned generous estacode in hard
currency.
“It is an indication of the kind of priority that this Federal
Government attaches to education that while it has refused
to meet its own side of an agreement it reached with ASUU
since 2009, it could pay out 3 trillion naira in non-existent
fuel subsidies to fat cats, spend 10 billion naira annually to
maintain the jets in the presidential fleet and do little or
nothing to prevent the stealing of 400,000 barrels of
crude oil per day, which translates to $120 million in a month,
money that surely ends up in some people’s pockets!
“What we are saying is that if the Federal Government would
reduce its profligacy and cut waste, there will be enough
money to pay teachers in public universities, as well as fund
research and upgrade infrastructure in such institutions.
Hungry teachers can neither teach well nor carry out
research. And poorly-taught students can neither excel nor
propel their nation to great
heights,” the statement said.
The party also registered its disgust at the demonstrated
nonchalance of those who should be working round the clock
to resolve the crisis, especially the Minister of State for
Education Nyeson Wike, who the party said has enough time
on his hands “to be launching vigilance groups and dancing
‘palongo’ around town when the nation’s public universities
are shut and students are languishing. This is shameful and
totally unacceptable.”
“We are not surprised because most government officials
have sent their children and wards to foreign universities,
hence do not give a damn if the children of others are in school
or not.
“Education is the key to national development. This is why
UNESCO has recommended an allocation of at least 26% of
national budgets to that critical sector. Therefore, talking
about national growth and development without adequately
funding education is a pipe dream!” APC said.
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