the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU, will meet today on the ongoing
strike embarked upon by university
lecturers over the non- implementation of
the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.
This came against the backdrop of
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief
Emeka Wogu's denial of a newspaper
report that the Federal Government
agreement with ASUU could not work.
The minister said he never made such a
statement and that he only appealed to
the union to return to the classrooms
while negotiations continued.
Last week, the two opposing sides had
met with the Senate and House of
Representatives Joint Committee on
Education to find a solution to the crisis,
so students could go back to school, but
the meeting ended in deadlock and the
two groups were told to go back and
review their positions to come back on a
latter date.
graduating-students
But the Minister of Education, Professor
Ruqayyatu Rufa'I, while fielding questions
from newsmen, yesterday, disclosed that
the Federal Government had no other
option than to meet with the union to
resolve the crisis, so students can return
to school.
Prof. Rufa'I said: "Government has no
option but to make efforts to resolve
ASUU crisis. Mr. President is concerned,
everybody is concerned, definitely, efforts
will have to be made to have students
back in classrooms.
"So we are pleading with our colleagues
in ASUU to call off the strike but we are
meeting with them, we are meeting
tomorrow (today).
President of Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, has
said Nigeria's economy had been taken
over by Chinese as leaders in Nigeria
have refused to provide quality education
to the people, while the Chinese
government trained its people in all
sectors with the necessary facilities.
Dr. Fagge in an interview with Vanguard
said Nigeria's economy will continue to
dwindle except leaders of the country
provided universities with adequate
facilities to give qualitative education to
the youths.
He said: "The thing about it is that, if
other countries are investing about 28-30
per cent of their annual budget in
education, typically Ghana, even this year,
Ghana has committed 28 per cent of its
total budget to education, if they can do
it, why not Nigeria.
"Is it because we are under the dictates
of IMF and World Bank, don't we want to
do what is right, must our children
continue to go to Ghanaian university for
education, must our people be leaving our
country, be brain-drained to other
countries to go and develop their
economies, must we continue this way"?
"Even now, what is happening is that the
Chinese have taken over our economy
simply because they have trained their
people, they have educated their people
and their people can compete any where
in the World that is why our President is
going to China to go and sign MoU
(Memorandum of Understanding).
"Why cant we do the same, why cant we
train our people and give them quality
education so that we will also be
exporting them to go and carry out
assignments in other countries and then
bring foreign exchange for our country
and then we will not need to be
importing people to come and do some
sundry projects in our country.
"Most of the key contracts now are being
forwarded to Chinese companies; all our
companies are down simply because we
have not paid high premium to our
education sector that is what we are
saying. Are we happy with what we are
producing as graduates? We are not that
is what we are crying out for.
"Let people understand that it is the
pride of an intellectual to produce a well
rounded intellectual who is even better
than himself, but that is not what we are
having. We are having people because we
don't have the facilities to give them
state of-the-art training and we are crying
out and people are telling us all sorts of
things."
ASUU president, who expressed optimism
that the agreement the union entered
into with the federal government would
be implemented, also decried the moving
in droves of Nigerian students to Ghana,
since he country paid more attention to
the education sector.
"This thing that they are saying
agreement cannot be implemented, we
have heard it before. Prof. Ben Nwabueze
was always in the media when he was the
Minister of Education saying that it was
an agreement of imperfect obligation," he
said.
0 100000:
Post a Comment