THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will sustain its ongoing strike until the Federal Government gets the money to meet its demands, an ex-officio member of the union, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, has said.
Okolie, the immediate past chairman of the union at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nsukka, Enugu State Friday that the government should not allow a total collapse of tertiary education in the country.
But former Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has called on the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) and the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) to intervene in the seven-week old ASUU strike.
The District Superintendent, West and Central Africa, Apostolic Faith Church, Rev. Bayo Adeniran, also called on the Government and ASUU to expedite action on the settlement of the rift between them, urging them to remember that keeping the students out of school would result in breeding criminals that would further endanger our society.
Meanwhile, the meeting between the Federal Government and ASUU in Abuja was postponed to Monday.
Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, who chairs the universities needs assessment committee, told newsmen that both parties had rescheduled their negotiations for Aug. 19.
Suswam, who is the negotiator for the Federal Government, said that tremendous progress had been made in the negotiations.
Oloyede, who expressed worry about the lingering strike, said the two bodies should not fold their arms and allow the situation to continue.
Okolie argued that no country had attained enviable height economically and technologically without adequate funds for the education sector.
He said the sector remained the engine room of national development. “The National Assembly and some executive members are paid jumbo salaries but when it comes to education funding the government has no money. How will the country be able to achieve its vision 20:2020 of being among the 20 leading economies if the education sector is not well-funded,’’ he asked.
The former chairman solicited the understanding of the students and their parents, saying the union’s demand was to ensure quality teaching and learning in the universities.
“It is unreliable that in some universities student receive lectures under the trees and in stadium. Books, laboratory equipment in our libraries and laboratories are outdated while some politicians and government officials are wasting money in building houses in every state capital and buying fleets of exotic cars. The demands will enable the universities to produce quality graduates employable in any part of the world,’’ he said.
Okolie urged the government to see reason in fulfilling the promise it entered with ASUU in 2009 to enable the students and lecturers to go back to class.
He said the union was not making a fresh demand but for the government to implement the agreement it signed with the union in 2009.
Oloyede said: “These two academies can no longer afford to watch this development continue since their major obligation is to promote academic activities and the education sector in general. I feel the Nigerian Academy of Letters and the Nigerian Academy of Science have a lot to do to ensure that the problem is solved once and for all. The face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU over the strike is becoming a perennial one.”
The immediate past Chairman, Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, said everything should be done to resolve the impasse.
According to Oloyede, the only way out of the impasse is to go scientific since every other process has failed to work.
“When I say scientific, I mean it is time to sit down as a body of intellectuals and get the issues well thought out in order to arrive at a workable solution.”
Oloyede, who was recently inducted into the Nigerian Academy of Letters, said the two intellectual bodies owed the country a duty to rise up to the challenge.
Speaking during the 2013 Camp Meeting Concert Programme which took place at Apostolic Faith Church Campground, Faith City, Ogun State, Adeniran said: “The best way to solve this problem is for the stakeholders to move into effective, collective bargaining that would bring peace and harmony to our institutions.
“I am pleading with our government and ASUU to come together and resolve this prolonged problem that would not only speak good of our educational system but also of the entire nation. The more we move together and encourage a society that thrives on law and order, the better for the nation. ”
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