Believing that the prolonged strike by the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),
which has paralysed studies in public
universities in the country is being sustained
because the children of influential people in
the country are ensconced in the private
universities, some members of the National
Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) are
already contemplating attack on the private
universities as a way of compelling the federal
government to take a more urgent action in
resolving the stalemate between ASUU and the
government.
The students, operating under the umbrella of
the NANS also staged a peaceful protest in
Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, to register
their displeasure over federal government's
alleged insincerity.
Speaking at the gathering Thursday, Mr.
Steven Adara, a student leader in Ekiti State
University (EKSU), noted that those in
government and some prominent Nigerians
were not helping the matter, as they were in
the habit of sending their sons and daughters
to private schools and overseas.
"We will mobilise ourselves and ensure that
we disrupt academic activities in most of the
private schools, because it is the sons and
daughters of the affluent that are in these
schools," he said.
Armed with placards with various inscriptions,
the students flayed the federal government
for its failure to honour the agreement it had
with ASUU since 2009, saying agreements
were expected to be honoured in good faith.
The students expressed their displeasure to
what they described as a continuous recession
in the standard of education since Dr .
Goodluck Jonathan emerged as the president
of the country.
Speaking on behalf of the students, Mr.
Asefon Sunday, the Director of Action and
Mobilisation, NANS, South -west pointed out
that between 2000 and 2011 that the Nigerian
government earned about N48.48 trillion
from the sale of oil alone against N3.10
trillion earned between 1979 and 1999.
He added that the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) in 2012 financial year alone
realised the sum of N5.12 trillion as revenue
generated from tax paid by the masses.
"With this tremendous upswing in the revenue
at the disposal of the federal government, one
would have expected such to translate to
commensurate improvement in the quality of
Nigeria's public education as well as other
social services.
He further condemned the inability of the
federal government to budget a reasonable
amount of money to education sector as
recommended by UNESCO which is 26 percent
of the country's total budget.
Asefon noted that some countries with smaller
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) like Ghana,
Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco and Botswana
had their budgetary allocations to education
sector.
According to him, the allocation to education
has been oscillating between 31 per cent, 20
per cent, 23 per cent, 17.7 per cent and 19
per cent, 8.5 per cent in recent years. .
The students equally urged the state
universities like Ekiti State University (EKSU),
Lagos State University (LASU), Osun State
University,Olabisi Onabanjo University to
slash their school fees immediately.
Meanwhile, the ASUU has accused the federal
government of resorting to acts of
intimidation and blackmail in its efforts to
frustrate and break the ranks of the country's
universities' academic staff, whose indefinite
strike was over eight weeks old.
This is even as ASUU vowed to deal with
blacklegs that could emerge among its
members who the government might recruit
in its alleged desperate effort to divide the
union and intimidate it into abandoning the
ongoing nation-wide industrial action.
In a joint statement presented by its zonal
coordinator, of the Benin Zone of ASUU, Dr.
Sunny O. Ighalo, said: "The strike has indeed
moved into a critical phase where government
is now applying the instrument of intimidation
and blackmail and other gimmicks to
undermine the struggle.
"The purported disbursement of the N130
billion to universities arising from the
meeting of Pro-Chancellors and Vice-
Chancellors was aimed at breaking our ranks
and is not acceptable to our union."
It noted that Nigeria was rich enough to
afford what the union asked for based on the
universities’ 'Needs Assessment Report', which
actually put the financial resources required
to overhaul the nation's university system at
N1.5 trillion.
"We believe Nigeria has the resources needed
to revitalise our universities and save the
nation the disgrace of having to send our
children to less endowed countries for
university education."
"While N500 billion minimum is expected,
going by the Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) of January 2012 for the revitalisation
of universities, government claimed that it
distributed N100 billion (20 per cent) to the
universities," it further said.
The body noted that it would not compromise
on the indefinite strike, saying "the federal
government should demonstrate integrity"
and honour to the letter the agreement it
entered into without duress. "What makes a
person or an organisation - including
governments - honourable is honouring an
agreement freely made".
The union leaders swore to continue the strike
and advised the federal government to
consider returning to the negotiation table
with ASUU on how to fulfill the extant
agreement signed between it and the union.
Culled from Vanguard
No comments:
Post a Comment