President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has said that the government has the capacity to meet
the union’s demands but lacks the will to do so.
According to him, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
government is not being sincere with the lecturers and Nigerians in the
negotiations to end the over 5 months strike.
He reminded government officials that the money being talked
about does not belong to the President nor politicians but Nigerians, insisting
that every Nigerian child has the right to education.
“It’s very sad. You see, if you have a will, you can get
whatever you want. Thirty years ago, nobody believed a television station could
run for 24 hours, nobody believed you could pick up a phone in Nigeria and call
someone in the US. These were done by the academics,” he said on Channels
Television on Monday evening.
The Union is expected to have another meeting with the Federal
Government today, Tuesday and Prof. Osodeke pointed out that government
officials have not been taking meetings with ASUU seriously despite the
President’s directives.
“On the issue of financing, if you have a will and you
believe that education is important, the government will raise any amount,” he
continued.
“This is the same government that has given $400b into
Trader Money and that is more than what we’re asking for. This is the
government that while we are on strike has released 200 billion to feed School
children. I don’t know who’s being fed. I’ve not seen it. But they released 200
billion and that’s more than what we are asking for the revitalisation fund.
“[The government] is not sincere… the money is definitely
there but the government isn’t willing. We only had an informal interface with
the minister of education.
“There was nothing formal but what we are expecting tomorrow
[today] is formal …this money we are talking about is Nigerians’ money. It’s
not the President’s money. It’s not the Senators’ money and every Nigerian
child has rights to education.”
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