Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), says he felt disappointed over the comment made by Festus
Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, on the union’s ongoing
strike.
Osodeke spoke on Monday during an interview with Channels
Television.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14 over government’s
failure to implement their demands on salaries and allowances of lecturers, and
improved funding for universities.
Speaking on the union’s strike, Keyamo, in an interview with
Channels TV on August 5, asked parents to beg the varsity lecturers to call off
their strike.
The minister added that the federal government will not be
blackmailed by ASUU to borrow N1.2 trillion in order to meet the demands of the
union.
“You cannot allow one sector of the economy to hold your
jugular and blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion for overheads, when
our total income is about N6.1 trillion, and you have roads, health centres to
build, and other sectors to take care of,” Keyamo had said.
Reacting to Keyamo’s comment, Osodeke said the union did not
embark on the strike over the welfare of lecturers, but the condition of
Nigerian public universities.
“For us as a union,
we are not talking about ASUU. We are talking about Nigerian university system
that has virtually collapsed in such a way that you don’t see students from all
over of the world coming to Nigerian universities as students,” the ASUU
president said.
“You don’t see lecturers from all over the world coming to
Nigeria to teach, while Nigerian lecturers and students are all moving in
droves out of the country. That is why we are on strike. It is not about our
welfare; it is about this system.
“Are we proud of this system? Will Keyamo, who had spoken,
allow his children to school in Nigerian universities? That is the comical
thing I saw when he was speaking and for me, why I felt so disappointed is this
is someone, before he joined this partisan politics, he was one of those on the
streets.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com