Students under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, yesterday, protested the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, calling on the Federal Government to accede to the demands of the union.
The students who have had enough of the strike also threatened to shut down activities in the private universities in the country should the crisis linger on.
Displaying several placards with various inscriptions, the students lampooned the Federal Government for its failure to honour the agreement it entered into with ASUU since 2009.
Asafon Sunday, Director of Action and Mobilisation NANS, South–West, who spoke on behalf of the students claimed between 2000 and 2011 the Nigerian government earned about N48.48 trillion from the sale of oil alone, against N3.10 trillion earned between 1979 and 1999.
He said the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in 2012 financial year alone generated N5.12 trillion from tax paid by the masses.
“With this tremendous upswing in the revenue at the disposal of the Nigerian government, one would have expected such to translate to commensurate improvement in the quality of Nigeria’s public education as well as other social services.”
He condemned the refusal of Federal Government to budget a reasonable amount of money to education sector as recommended by UNESCO which is 26 per cent of the country’s total budget, noting that some countries with smaller Gross Domestic Product, GDP, like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco and Botswana had budgetary allocations to education sector as follow, 31 per cent,20 per cent,23 per cent ,17.7 per cent and 19 per cent respectively to 8.5 per cent that Nigeria government had budgeted for education in 2013.
A student leader from Ekiti State University, EKSU, Steven Adara also expressed his disappointment in the present administration. He lamented that government officials and prominent Nigerians were not bothered about the crisis in the public universities because their children were in private schools or overseas.
“We will mobilise and disrupt academic activities in the private universities because it is the sons and daughters of the rich that are in these schools.”
Nans, mak una do anyfin wey go call fg attentn. Adddeeeeyyy una bak. Dat 48.48 trillion made frm oil sales wre d bar dey, 9ja ma country awa leadas self… GOD help us
Please I want all the nigeria students to come togather, and fight for ourselfs if not we still remain at home without hope for tommorrow,big up for NANS
i beg d govt ….pls accept d terms cos its really killing us as students,jst imagine ur children who r supposed 2 b in 400level are in 200level & still @ hme .hw wl u feel???? Our parents r really bad cos dey cant send us 2 d private sector & dis 1 dey send us 2 is lyk hell 2 dem,pls wipe d tears off our paarents eyes & accept dir terms
this is not the fault of the fg, the fg have given #100b to the vc’s of the schools affected but still asuu are upset about that. They claim that the money should be handed over to them. Come to think of it, what has this asuu union done for our universities since it started this their yearly strike?…..nothing!!, all they know how to do is use our influence to enrich themselves. I am not saying that i am happy staying at home, all i am saying is that something reasonable has to be done in order to solve this problem once and for all, to me i think the union should be dissolved.
Even during normal academic period, how many ASSU members were dedicated to duties, i.e being punctual n lecturing as at when due? Many student would tell their experiences that in most of the courses, lecturers reported probably three or four times for a whole semester. Some wants to lecture till age 70yrs when most cant deliver now and would also result in most youth been unemployed till they are retired. They were employed with 1st degree and Nigeria’s Education was okay and now they block that by making policies that only PhD would be employ as Lecturers; what a greedy union
Mr charles, what do you know about the strike or corrupt nature of the system. Ask the senators of their allowances and monthly take home pay before you judge our proff!
@Charles, I think u need to be enlightened on d issue at stake. There was an agreement bet ASUU and FG in 2009, another MoU in 2012 and Needs assessment report on ground. Failure of FG to implement these agreement aimed at equipping and upgrading learning and research activities in universities led to the accumulation which now totals N500b which is what ASUU demands. However, instead of implementing the agreement, FG unilaterally decided to give N130b as if ASUU is begging for money. Note th at if this is accepted, it negates the terms of the agreement and has outrightly nullified it. Let me ask you, are u comfortable wit d nature of lecture halls, hostels, libraries, laboratories in ur school? Are u satisfied that no nigerian univesity is among the top 20
universities in africa? Are u happy dt the qtality of university education is rapidly falling?
As for what ASUU has done for the benefit of the students, d TETFUND which u now see on almost every ne block in us school, do u knw it was a brain-child of ASUU? Have u wondered what could have been the nature of infrastructure if there was no TETFUND today? Ok, if ASUU succeeds in this struggle, do u tiink they are the only people to use these facilities that would be provided? Please support ASUU in their quest to better the universities and their students.
Goood! I support them! Let them close the schools & FG will know how serious they are!
If university students of today can be like of the oldie they will be the one to salvage this country from our vision less leaders but believe you me corruption is already a compulsory course that must be pass for you to graduate.
Disrupt academic activities in private uni? Nt a reasonable idea. I graduated from a private uni n ma parents r nt “big men”, infct ma mum is a nurse, went to uni wif co-operative loan, n its d same wif most of ma colleague. Wanna fyt d govt, face them directly, cripple activities of federal ministries, transportation, banks, march to govt functions etc wit clear intent….nt inflicting discomfort on fellow students in d struggle.
ASUU are doin the examplenary sort of leadership, b’cos it shows dt their aim is to improve university’s infrastructures not to enrich themselves, so thanks the ASUU President. We hope ASUU’ll also look in to the behaviors of the lectures two, as most of them tends to be lazily performing their job by printing out the document directly from internet to students without making any research, or delivering the lecture that’s suppose to be in four weeks in only saturday claiming they’re visitors or otherwise, while they use to be paid enough salary to do so compared to teachers in secondary schools. I hope my request will kindly be considered, wishing ASUU and the protesting students the best.
well. Henry u really made me hapi on ur comment. How i wish i can go through thin air and do what is in my mind about this ASUU strike. We d student needs cooperation and fight for our right.
For instance, some pf the final year student are suppose to be in for their service, but that is not working out all bcos of strike… Well. Am begging the FG to please grant ASUU their heart desire.bcos i know and believe that FG are more than 87bn. Thanks… A word is enough for the WISE.
I think the opinion of this student leader from Ekiti State University, Steven Adara will solve this lingering problem. Even if this strike last for a year the rich who are behind this won’t have anything to loose bcoz they have their children in either outside the country or in private Universities in the country. So, gr8t Nigeria Student! Rise up @ once & shut down private school & see if they will not wake up. BAD LEADERS
Closing down private Univ.shouldn’t be ur headache for now bcos frankly speaking,children of govt officials and d so-called “rich people” don’t school in Nigeria like you and I.Shikena!
D FG shld pay pay d lect allowances,it cant ground d running of govt since senators ,govrs n presd allowances did nt ground actv
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