‘End ASUU Crisis Without Delay’ Senate President, Bukola Saraki Tells FG

‘End ASUU Crisis Without Delay’ Senate President, Bukola Saraki Tells FG

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has
called on the Federal Government to immediately end the strike of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that is entering its 62nd
day.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki emphasised the need for
Nigeria’s universities to be re-opened without further delay,
highlighting the fact that the education of Nigeria’s young people is
being negatively affected by the stance of the government and is also
disenfranchising the youths, many of whom are registered to vote in
their universities??but are now stuck in their homes.

“In November 2016, the Senate intervened in the
ASUU strike and met with the officials of the Ministries of Education
and Labour, Employment and Productivity and the Academic Staff Union of
Universities.

“At that meeting, which was attended by the
Minister of State for Education Anthony Anwuka and Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Labour and Productivity in the National Assembly, we agreed
that the Federal Government should work to implement the agreement that
it reached with ASUU in 2009, and subsequently, we set up a
sub-committee to liaise with both ASUU and the Federal Government on
this issue.

“The Federal Government must immediately work
to address the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (
ASUU), because this issue goes beyond negotiations. It is affecting the
education of Nigeria’s students, and disenfranchising many of them from
participating in the upcoming general elections.

“Make no mistake, we cannot continue this
system whereby our universities will be frequently shut down, thereby
slowing down the education of our young people??and creating negative
bottlenecks that place unnecessary stress on our universities.

“In another vein, our youth make up over 51
percent of registered voters. What does this mean for our electoral
process, when young students who are registered to vote in their
academic institutions, cannot do so because their schools are shut down?
This is unacceptable.

“In this regard, I call on the Federal
Government to immediately work on meeting the demands of ASUU and
honouring all its prior commitments. On our part, the Senate will
continue to work to ensure that Nigeria’s education sector is
strengthened??and we are ready and willing to collaborate with both the
Federal Government and ASUU to end this strike, and ensure that it does
not become a recurrent issue,” Saraki stated.