ASUU strike: Group asks Sultan, Adeboye to intervene

A civil rights organisation, Ijaw Monitoring Group,  on Thursday challenged Christian  and Muslim leaders  in  the country  to speak out  against the Federal Government in its face-off with the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

According to the IMG, the Sultan of Sokoto, who is also the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111;  the President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oristsejafor; and the  General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye,  should not keep quiet, especially  when there was  a crisis of such magnitude in the education sector.

The Coordinator of IMG, Mr. Joseph Evah, said the silence of the religious leaders was “no longer golden in this instance.”

He said, “I am not happy with the silence of the Sultan of Sokoto, Pastor   Adeboye and   Oristsejafor in the face-off between the Federal Government and   the Academic Staff Union of Universities. They are not interested in the ASUU matter because they all have their universities in which they are milking the poor.

“We  expect these respected men of God to behave like ArchBishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. If this on-going ASUU strike happens to be in South Africa,   Tutu will march down to  the seat of power. But in Nigeria,  our men of  God won’t do that because they worship money and every government that comes to power.

“We expect these men of God to intervene and ask President Goodluck Jonathan to go and negotiate with ASUU the way he went to the creeks in the Niger Delta and negotiated with the militants.”

Meanwhile, ASUU  has maintained that  it would not call off the  strike until the government implemented  the 2009 agreement with it.

The National Treasurer of  the union, Dr. Ademola Aremu, and Chairman of the  University of Ibadan chapter of ASUU, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, said this at a symposium entitled ‘Education, research and development in Nigeria’  in Ibadan on Thursday.

They  said the claim by the government that their demands  could not be met because of paucity of funds was deceitful and insincere.

Vice-Chancellor,  University of Calabar, Prof. James Epoke,  on Thursday urged the government to emulate Ghana by funding the universities with dedication and utmost commitment.

Epoke told journalists in Calabar  that   funding had always been an issue in the education sector.

According to the vice-chancellor, Ghana is funding her university education with over 31 per cent of its annual budget  while  Nigeria dedicates only  eight per cent of its budget  to the sector.

THE PUNCH