ASUU strike: South-West youths slam Senate President over position on 2009 agreement

Youths from South West region of the country under the aegis of the Odua Youth Coalition (OYC) on Wednesday, slammed the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, over his position that the Federal Government signed the 2009 agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in error.

The youths described the statement credited to Lawan as faulty, saying that rather than addressing the issue, the Senate President was moving backwards while noting that Nigerian leaders are only interested in their 2023 presidential bids amid the strike.

Speaking during a press conference in Akure, Ondo State capital, the National President of the group, Tayo Oluyi Akintade, expressed disappointment on how the Federal Government could afford to allow the students to remain at home as a result of its disagreement with ASUU and be comfortable with its preparations for the elections.

Akintade wondered if the Senate President was just waking from his slumber, noting that he was a member of the National Assembly when the agreement was reached.

The group issued a seven days ultimatum and threatened to embark on protest across the southwest region if the Federal Government continues to turn its blind eyes to the plight of the Nigerian students and refused to yield to the demands of ASUU

Akintade said “I think it is a faulty statement from the President of the Senate. I’m very sure he was a member of the National Assembly when the agreement was signed. And if you break down the 2009 agreement, a lot of things were captured in that agreement. It is not even about the payment of the salary of lecturers. You can’t even compare Nigerian universities with some universities in some African countries.

“What ASUU and Nigerians want is for government to bring universities to the height they ought to be. The Federal Government has shown lackadaisical towards the Nigeria future and we as youths have come out to say emphatically that if the Federal Government failed to accede to these requests within the next seven days we are not going to leave any stone unturned by moving out en masse and joining forces with other bodies to ensure that we block all federal roads.

“For years, we give them the opportunity for reconciliation and dialogue but we have seen that for years these people do not listen. I think they understand that when things are turned upside down, they respond and this is the approach we are taking.

“I think Nigerians have been patient enough. Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, they have gone on strike action 16 times and that shows that they must have met with the federal government more than that.

“For three long months, Nigerian students have been kept at home and far away from their campuses as a result of a prolonged, unacceptable and insensitive strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over their unending rift with the Nigerian government.

“Just days ago, Nigerian airlines issued a threat to shut down business across the country as a result of the unavailability and rising costs of aviation fuel, their request was speedily granted by the FG. Since Nigerian roads are a death trap and railroads pathways to the great beyond, air travel is the only means by which the ruling class and the elite comfortably commute.

“They surely know that grounding air travel is as good as stalling the political process. This act has further emboldened our belief that Nigerian students mean little or nothing to the ruling class and the FG.

“What has the country done so wrong to deserve such selfish and wicked hearts at the helm? One even begins to wonder if the events of October 2020 were a child’s play in the minds of these leaders.

“While we believe ASUU’s demands such as universities revitalization, signing 2009 agreement, paying earned academic allowances among others, still stand, the refusal of the FG to accede to these requests has impacted negatively on tertiary education and future of Nigeria.

“Facilities and infrastructures on campuses are deteriorating, with the poor remunerations of university teachers leading to brain drains and resulting in the production of ill-baked graduates,” he explained.  (Nigerian Tribune)