The Save Public Education Campaign has called for an end to the lingering strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The Coalition also called on government to pay all withheld salaries to academic unions.
The Campaign which is a Nigerian Civic Coalition for upholding the Educational Rights in Nigeria said this on Monday in Abuja during a press conference, in a statement signed by the Convener, Comr. Vivian Bello and Co-Convener Comr. Dimeji Macaulay, stating that it has watched with awe and abhorrence, the near-total collapse of Tertiary Education in Nigeria.
The Coalition said that distressing statistics show that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has been on strike for a total of 715 days since the beginning of the President Buhari-led administration over issues of poor welfare, University Autonomy and lack of adequate funding for Universities, which she said, when tallied inversely, amounts to an entire two and half years lost in the educational lives of innocent Nigerian Students in public Universities across the Country.
The group also noted that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education ASUP and COEASU are currently on strike over similar issues as ASUU, lamenting that in all these, the Nigerian Authorities have not seen any compelling need to devote attention or resources needed to tackle the ugly state of affairs of the Tertiary Educational Sector in Nigeria.
The Coalition therefore said, “We wish to state unequivocally that, If the strike action lingers, we will be forced to commence another round of mass protests Nationwide to bring an end to the unjust denial of innocent Nigerians their Right to Education.”
It further demanded as follows, “That the negotiation process of the strike action, including as led by the Prof Nimi Briggs committee, be immediately concluded and SIGNED (We demand an end to the lingering foot-dragging).
“The IPPIS has been specifically described and pointed out with evidence, by the striking academic unions as problematic, inconsistent and fraudulent. The Platform should therefore be set aside while the proposed more credible alternatives; UTAS, U3PS deployed accordingly.
“We call for immediate payment of ALL withheld salaries of the striking academic unions.
“Having become aware of a proposed bill by the Senate to establish a financial Aid Scheme for students; we demand that such proposed Scheme be clearly explained to Nigerians. We want to see a properly public-funded education at all levels in Nigeria and not create another looting avenue or portfolio for some unscrupulous mindless public officials.
“That in view of the gravity of the situation, we make a clarion call for unity and coming together of staff unions, students, workers and communities across the country, to mobilize and get ready for civic mass actions to compel the government to take the necessary steps to end the strike and have the millions of our children and students, return to school to end the jeopardy of their Education and future.”
Also, the Coalition decried the wastage of humongous resources on Political Parties’ Nomination forms and Primaries as priorities while relegating issues as fundamental as the Education and future of Nigerian Children to the back bench.
It stated that Education can be a veritable panacea to insecurity in Nigeria if government will recognise the futility of its so-called insecurity-fighting campaign, change strategy and invest a greater proportion of resources in providing robust, efficient and quality educational systems and structure for its citizenry.
The statement further read, “This is totally tragic. But then of course they do not care. Not with the children of the common man as we know being the ones that attend public schools in Nigeria. On the other hand, the children of ruling elites are graduating from different international Universities across developed countries around the world.
“Soon, if the situation persists, we will have no option but to compile names of these public officials and their children, and demand the hosting countries and schools expel them to return and have education as is, in their home country, Nigeria.
“In this year 2022, Nigeria budgeted the sum of N1.29tn, or 7.9% for Education, a far cry from UNESCO’s standard recommendation of 26% minimum. This meager allocation to the sector underscores the lip-service the country’s authorities pay to Education, and of which outcome and impact can now be directly seen in the teeming mass of young people, who have over and against the excellent innate talents and potentials they are endowed with, now taken in mass to crime and criminality while government on its part has taken to chasing-shadows by expending huge sums of money in the guise of fighting criminality and insecurity instead of tackling the problem from its root cause.”
