Academic Staff Union of Nigeria Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government (FG) of toying with the future of students.
The union made the accusation in a statement that the Coordinator of the Benin Zone, Prof. Fred Esumeh, signed and was made available to the media on Monday.
“ASUU, after more than a calender year of exploring all available and legitimate means in its effort to compel the Federal Government of Nigeria to honour the terms of the Memorandum of Action it signed with the Union on the 22nd of December 2020, was left with no option other than to declare a four week roll over strike action.
He also reminded the Press that at the expiration of the four weeks when the government created the impression that it required more time to address the issues at stake, ASUU rolled over the strike for another eight weeks to provide the Federal Government with more than sufficient time to comprehensively sort out the patriotic demand by the Union that our universities be emplaced at the cutting edge of research and innovation and that our scholars and academics be propelled to the frontiers of scientific and technological development thereby improving our global relevance and competitiveness.”
Going further, ASUU stressed that “but rather than treat the nationalistic call of the Union with the urgency and seriousness that it deserves, the representatives of government continue to toy with the future of our children, students and nation such that fifty-seven days today, after they were sent packing from their institutions, the resolution of the principal outstanding issues of the deployment of the University Transparency Accountability Solution(UTAS) and the signing and implementation of the draft renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement remains at the level of mere proposals, fruitless talk, and empty assurances.”
