By Ikenna Nwokedi
President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Comrade Charles Obinna Ijeomah has called on the Federal Government to resolve the impasse regarding the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
ASUU has been on strike since 14th February, 2022 a situation which has seen academic activities brought to a standstill for over six months in the nation’s Ivory Tower.
Comrade Ijeomah made the charge while featuring as a guest on Arise TV’s 9pm News of Tuesday, 30th August 2022, talking on the topic ‘ASUU Indefinite Strike’.
Mr Ijeomah stated that its high time FG sat-up by living up to expectations with regards to the nation’s Education Sector which he described as very key and fundamental to the growth and development of any society.
The student leader emphasized that most of the infrastructures existing currently in our Universities today was a product of intervention from TETFund and Needs Assessment occasioned by ASUU’s struggles to better the education sector.
Mr Ijeomah opined that the existence of public universities in Nigeria serves as the cheapest means of education for an average Nigerian who cannot afford the cost of enrolling for an academic program in a private university.
He reminded the Government that Nigerian students are getting impatient by the day and there is urgent need to resolve the present situation before it gets out of hand.
ASUU upgraded the ongoing strike which started on February 14th 2022 to a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike, a decision taken at a meeting of the union’s National Executive Council held on Sunday, August 28th 2022 in Abuja.
The strike is in protest against the government’s failure to release revitalisation funds for universities, failure to release the white paper report of the visitation panel to universities, better welfare conditions for the academics and the failure to deploy the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS) for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers.
