ASUU Strike: The Strike Is Beyond FG, ASUU – Ezekwesili

As the federal government struggles to find a solution to
the protracted strike of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), former education minister, Dr Oby
Ezekwesili, has said that the crisis is now beyond the
government and the union as the parties can no longer
handle the situation.
Dr Ezekwesili said Nigerians must now demand that
there be a another approach to arriving at the kind of
the university system to be run in the country.
Speaking to newsmen yesterday in Abuja, at the Unity
Schools Old Students' Association (USOSA) One-Day
Summit/Dialogue on Education, Good Governance and
National Unity, the former minister said "there is
no time
because the rest of the world has used knowledge as a
basis to completely leave us at the lower ranks of
economic development."
She said: "The two parties so far seem to have failed to
have a principled negotiation. This is no longer a matter
between the government and ASUU; this has become a
matter between the people of Nigeria, government and
ASUU.
"I think the citizens must now demand that there be a
neutral approach at identifying what will be the solution
to the kind of university system that we want to run."
The former vice president of the World Bank said the
ASUU agreement was not signed during her tenure as
education minister.
According to her, "When I was the minister of education,
I personally got Mr Gamaliel Onosode, a distinguished
professional, to lead the negotiation, but what
subsequently happened after I left office in 2007 is open
to interpretation of those who were part of the final
negotiation that was said to have been signed in 2009.
"And one thing that I do know is that there are many
points of convergence between the federal government
and ASUU at the time in 2007 when I was leaving to
Washington DC to resume my position as the vice
president of World Bank".
Stop begging, ASUU tells NASS
ASUU yesterday called on the National Assembly to stop
'begging' it over the strike but to plug spending leakages
in government to allow for provision of needed
infrastructure for the masses.
The chairman of the University of Ibadan branch of the
union, Dr Olusegun Ajiboye, in a statement tagged, 'The
Goofing Professor Adeyeye: Senate and Begging
Comments', said the Senate Vice Chairman, Committee
on Education Professor Sola Adeyeye, was using public
funds to train all his children abroad, hence he lacks
knowledge about the situation of things in Nigerian
universities.
ASUU also lashed out at Adeyeye over his comments
where he querried the rationale by professors should be
paid to supervise postgraduate students.
NAPTAN Calls For Publication Of Hidden Truths
As ASUU strike enters 134 days today, the National
Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has
urged the federal government and ASUU to publish the
hidden truths that are unknown to Nigerians about the
agreement between the duo.
National president of the association, Alhaji Haruna
Danjuma, a.k.a. Mutuwan Dole, made the call yesterday
in Abuja when speaking to journalists concerning the
disastrous effects of the protracted strike.
The union also frowned at the comment of Senate
President David Mark that ASUU would lose public
sympathy if it did not call off its strike,describing it as
careless and saying that the Senate had already lost its
credibility among Nigerians over its bogus allowances
and its perpetual anti-masses stance as opposed to the
progressives in the House of Representatives.
He said, "We are fighting a just cause. Can the Senate
members wait for four years of their tenure before their
allowances are paid?"
Source:leadership
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