The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Tuesday, drew the attention of President Bola Tinubu to the increasing hardship faced by public university workers across the country.
Ayoola Akinwole, a professor and chairman, the University of Ibadan chapter of the union, stated this in a statement to mark the 64th independence anniversary of Nigeria, titled “Nigeria at 64: A state in need of deliverance from the leadership of perpetual have-nots.”
“It is more worrisome that amidst these economic woes of the people, the government is channelling its expenditure to areas like purchasing new Presidential Jet and Presidential Cadillac Escalade.
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“The quality of lives of the ordinary Nigerians has precipitously declined, and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is daily expanding; the rich continue to get stupendously richer while the poor are getting poorer”, the union said in a statement.
According to ASUU, the so-called middle class had since been wiped off by the increasing weight of dependents in a society that prioritises ‘palliatives’ over and above the empowerment of the poor. So, while the masses suffocate from the adverse consequences of the neoliberal socio-economic policies of the government, members of the ruling class revel in questionable wealth that makes nonsense of the anti-corruption crusade.
“If the trend is not arrested, part of the imploding consequences will be that Nigerians can no longer eat well or sleep well and the pervasive poverty will have entrenched a multidimensional insecurity with the associated consequences.
“While the Nigerian masses are in multi-dimensional poverty, the government spent billions on cars for Senators and House of Representative members, awarding white elephant projects, a fraction of this questionable spending will solve most of the problems of the education sector and lay the foundation for Nigeria’s economic growth.”
Akinwole said ASUU has shown understanding by issuing ultimatum to the government while the Federal Government has been lackadaisical. It added that another 14-day ultimatum was about to end within which government should meet the demands of the union to strengthen the relative peace on public university campuses in the country.
“Many lecturers ran away to other countries; many died as a result of financial debility; those who cannot run away got into debt just to survive while many take another job in the private sector.”
The ASUU leader stated that, “In the 64 years of the Nigeria’s independence, education and the state of the nation have been on a downward trend owing to the dwindling fortunes in the quality of politicians steering the ship of the country”.
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Akinwole noted that Nigeria’s problems were due to the neglect of its educational sector, maintaining that without the necessary tools, improved welfare package for the lecturers and a conducive work environment, the university system will not be able to deliver on her mandates.
The ASUU chairman admonished President Tinubu “to desist from singing the unpleasant and baseless “have-nots” song but brace up to resolve the outstanding issues on university education as raised by the union, injected funds into the education sector for revitalisation, improved remuneration of academics, and address the economic crisis in the country.”
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