RaphaelFG – ASUU Protracted Strike Issues and Challenges
Your excellency, President Buhari, it is not my intention to write to you, but the insensitivity of your administration towards resolving the FG – ASUU conflict has made it expedient on me to write to you and advice you on the strategy and methodology to adopt in order to resolve the conflict.
First and foremost, this conflict is unnecessary, precisely because already an agreement was signed in 2009 with the FG.
What remained is for the government to set the machinery in motion for the implementation of said 2009 FG – ASUU agreement but it appears that the government is lukewarm towards this agreement.
Perhaps because the children of the elites and public officers at the top, are not affected. Their children are either studying abroad or in some private universities in the country. This explains why the government is so careless about the long ASUU strike.
Mr. President I want you to note that any country or society that neglect it’s knowledge industry is bound to fail. It is rather unfortunate that your government is sphere heading the failure of the Nigerian state.
Therefore, the essence of writing this open letter to you is: to urge you as a matter of urgency, to sit with members of ASUU, to immediately resolve this crisis and give peace a chance and stop wasting the time of our youths and portraying Nigeria as a very backward and under-developed country.
Mr. President, I want you to know that Nigerians saw you as a saint or a messiah and have so much hope in your regime but a lot of people are clamouring for a change on the basis that you have disappointed them.
Let me bring to your notice Mr. President, that this conflict does not affect the ASUU members alone, but the society at large.
Children are at home without schooling, because their parents can no longer take their responsibilities and this is affecting them, their right has been denied as their parent cannot afford to pay their school fee, and transportation money. A lot of people are suffering because of the long ASUU strike.
Furthermore, some of the students that have been thrown out of school because of this strike, have now become hazardous to the society e.g. some of them smoke, some involved themselves in some criminal acts like kidnapping, robbery, banditry to mention but a few.
Sir, I think that you should always motivate the students to know the importance of education through your actions or inactions, so that they can make great people in the future.
Allowing this conflict to continue will definitely cause a lot of damage in this society.
The education of our youths is very significant. Sir, you are a military man and even in war, starvation is prohibited. Besides, ASUU is not fighting a war. ASUU is fighting for their right, and the rights of Nigerian students only. Why should you starved them by refusing to pay them their salaries.
Mr. President this is heartless and wicked. ASUU members have complied with all the due process of declaring strike.
Consequently, I urged you and your administration to behave humanely in resolving this conflict. You have to work hard in order to ameliorate this situation so as to remove the anguish pain that filled the heart of our students. As you can see this conflict is having a corrosive effect on our youths and our society. Our youths are now in the mood of despondency.
Sir, you are now facing the degradation of being dishonest to people. It’s implausible that this is really happening in your administration, because we use to have a strong believe in you that you will wipe up tears of the suffering Nigerians, but what we are experiencing now is completely different of what we thought of you and your administration.
Your government is showing lackadaisical attitude towards our studies and future, we continue to languish at home because of the lackadaisical attitude that your government is showing towards our studies, and this your attitude that you are showing to the nation’s education sector is so malignant .
We are forced willy-nilly to stay at home since our parent cannot afford to take us abroad or private universities to study as you can take yours. We are now facing a double whammy because our parents cannot send us to study abroad, and cannot also afford to pay for us to learn skills. I hope you will do something to take us out of this quagmire.
ASUU members are venturesome citizens. Since they have taken this bold step of challenging your administration, the nation should hail them for what they are doing because they are fighting for the nation.
Mr. President I assure you that if adequate measure is not taken to address this issue it will jeopardize the nation. We the poor people in the society are in the state of topsy-turvy, doubting if it is that same person we voted for and suffered for, who now, cannot or is yet to revitalize our educational sector.
In conclusion, we want to reaffirm our stand that ASUU struggle is legitimate and government action is disdainful and embarrassing and as a result of this, we are calling on the government to immediately sit with ASUU in order to resolve this issue and reopen our universities for academic activities to resume.
The government should address this matter with humane consideration and without further delay release unconditionally, the withheld salaries of ASUU members.
We also want to emphasize that the issue of revitalizing structures, equipments and facilities, should not be a matter of strike because it is the responsibility of the government to provide them.
But where government fails to provide adequate materials and facilities that will aid teaching and research in the universities, ASUU as the custodian of academic excellence and the mouth piece of the Nigerian student would have no option than to down-tools by declaring strike in order to galvanize the government to take up it responsibility.
We want to assure the government that if our universities are adequately equipped, government officials will not take their children abroad to study, however, because our universities are left without adequate teaching and learning facilities, children of government officials are travel abroad to study or enroll in private universities.
Sir, I will like to make you know that we salute the courage of ASUU members for standing firm in defence of public universities in Nigeria. On this note, our teachers, your decision is so sacrosanct, so more grease to your elbow.
With ASUU we stand.
Aluta continua Victoria acerta.!
About the Author
1. Halima Ibrahim Shehu. Diploma in Law A.B.U Zaria. Email: [email protected]
2. Fatima Ibrahim Shehu. Diploma II Iya Abubakar Computer Center A.B.U Samaru, Zaria. Email: [email protected]
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