ASUU Strike: Beg government not lecturers, ASUU tells Nigerians

 

Dr Nasir Fagge, National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has urged Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to honour the agreement signed with the union. Fagge told the journalists on telephone in Lagos that Nigerians should stop appealing to the union to call off its strike. Fagge pointed out that instead of prevailing on ASUU to call off the strike, Nigerians should look at its demands and see their relevance to national development. “Why is it that when issues like this come up, Nigerians will start begging ASUU to call off strike in the interest of the children and the country in general, rather than prevailing on government. “I want to state here that we have a lot of respect and appreciate the concern of all Nigerians who have prevailed on ASUU to reconsider its stand and call off the strike,- Fagge said. In his opinion, if people really care about Nigeria and want to move it forward, they should refocus their thinking to government and cause them to implement the agreement and then we can start from there. “We shall no longer be coerced into calling off the strike and returning to classes because the last time we had such a strike was in 2011– when I was the Vice-President– and two years after, we have embarked on another strike over the same issue. “I think as a nation, there is need for us to try and do the right thing by way of extracting commitment from our leaders because we cannot continue this way. According to his words, the system is getting worse every day, losing the respect. That is why they must do all they can to fix the system. “You know that if products from our universities continue to study with little or non-existent infrastructure in place, as it is obtained today, they will fail to deliver and the entire responsibility falls back on our shoulders, “he stated. “Everyone knows that our universities cannot compete, even with universities within Africa, let alone those in the larger world. “We must show commitment and be proactive in addressing the rot in our university system, so that at the end of the day, our products will be able to compete favourably with their counterparts in other climes, “ Fagge added.