Concerned that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is being unnecessarily prolonged, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has enjoined the Federal Government to rise up to its obligation by honouring its agreement with the striking lecturers.
The party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, in a statement on Tuesday, posited that not meeting the demands of ASUU is tantamount to government playing with education which is the bedrock of any society.
He contended that the striking teachers are not making fresh demands, saying the2009 agreements voluntarily entered into by the federal government should be implemented to the letter.
The statement reads, ”The 87 billion naira that ASUU is demanding represents earned allowances hence cannot be renegotiated. In any case, this amount pales into insignificance when placed side by side with the 1 trillion naira that has been spent on federal legislators in the past 8 years; or the frivolity involved in a government minister travelling to China to negotiate a $1 billion loan in a chartered jet (with its attendant costs) and with a retinue of staffers who earned generous estacode in hard currency.
”It is an indication of the kind of priority that this Federal Government attaches to education that while it has refused to meet its own side of an agreement it reached with ASUU since 2009, it could pay out 3 trillion naira in non-existent fuel subsidies to fat cats, spend 10 billion naira annually to maintain the jets in the presidential fleet and do little or nothing to prevent the stealing of 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which translates to $120 million in a month, money that surely ends up in some people’s pockets!
”What we are saying is that if the Federal Government would reduce its profligacy and cut waste, there will be enough money to pay teachers in public universities, as well as fund research and upgrade infrastructure in such institutions. Hungry teachers can neither teach well nor carry out research. And poorly-taught students can neither excel nor propel their nation to great heights.
”We are not surprised, because most government officials have sent their children and wards to foreign universities, hence do not give a damn if the children of others are in school or not.
”Education is the key to national development. This is why UNESCO has recommended an allocation of at least 26% of national budgets to that critical sector. Therefore, talking about national growth and development without adequately funding education is a pipe dream!”.
