The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, on Tuesday, slammed the Federal Government for failing to prioritise education in Nigeria, stating that the woes bedevilling the sector will not end until the ruling elite are forced to train their children in public schools.
Osodeke, while dismissing the two-week ultimatum issued to ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari to end the strike, stated that ASUU had concluded negotiations with the government and was only waiting for the ministers to sign the agreement reached with the university lecturers.
The ASUU President, while decrying the brain drain in the education sector, noted that Nigeria is also losing its professionals in the medical line to other countries.
Osodeke, while featuring on Today Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, said the lecturers were ready to return to the classrooms as long as the government fulfils its part of the bargain.
On Buhari’s ultimatum, he said, “As a union, we also look at history – look at past precedents, until the issues are resolved, I don’t believe we…this will not even make any difference because this is not the first ultimatum given on this strike. Remember, when the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council met with the President on the 1st of February, they also set up a three-man committee to quickly resolve this issue within one month; and that was the Chief of Staff (to the President), the Minister of Labour (Employment and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige) and the Minister of Education (Adamu Adamu). That committee didn’t invite us for a meeting until we rolled over the strike in May, that was when they invited us for a meeting. The NLC issued an ultimatum and that committee called a meeting.”
Osodeke recalled that after the negotiation, ASUU gave the government six weeks. “That was 22nd of May, we are (now) in July. We agreed on six weeks. That has expired, nothing happened. Now, (it is) another two weeks. Where we are, if we are serious, if we really want to resolve these problems, it should not take two days,” he stated.
Credit: The PUNCH
