Mary Onyia
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has accused the federal government of gross insensitivity to the plight of the poor and ordinary people of Nigeria whose children are in the various public universities in the country, adding that the union will not relent, even as they vow to continue the strike until the federal government does the needful.
Making this disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday, Prof. Osodeke said the union took the difficult decision to continue with the on-going strike, after exhausting all avenues available to amicably resolve the issues with the Federal Government.
Osodeke berated the Federal Government for not showing enough interest in the plight of the poor claiming that when issues affecting them are concerned, they immediately act accordingly.
“Let me give you an example because this is where we are getting it wrong, when the airline operators said they were going to stop flight operations, the Senate and House of Representatives quickly stepped in.
“This is because they are affected, they quickly rushed in and addressed the problem. Why would they not resolve that of education sector that is affecting the children of the poor and the ordinary people.
“If the government is willing to resolve the issues affecting the Nigerians, there would be no need to go on strike. The problem is the will of the government to resolve issues, Osodeke said in an interview with NAN.
ASUU had on Monday extended its roll-over strike which started on February 14 by another 12 weeks. The striking lecturers demands include: funding of the revitalization of public universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAS, and Promotion Arrears, among others.
Osodeke pointed out that out of all the demands none has been met by the Federal Government, claiming that all the issues that necessitated the strike were still there.
The ASUU president said the government knows what to do to put things right but have refused. He urged them to do what is necessary to enable the children go back to school.