Rita Lori, mothers, plan emergency action to end ASUU strike

Concerned mothers in the country, led by frontline activist, Chief Rita Lori Ogbebor, have announced emergency plan that could end the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

This came barely few days after negotiations between the aggrieved lecturers and the Federal Government were deadlocked, with the union threatening to withdraw from further meeting with the Governor Gabriel Suswam Committee.

Addressing journalists in Lagos yesterday, Chief Ogbebor expressed the sorrows of Nigerian women over the prolonged strike and warned that neglecting qualitative education could spell doom for the nation.

According to her, the strike has forced thousands of undergraduates out of school, with some of them enlisting in street gangs that waste their days in cyber crimes.

Chief Ogbebor, who is also the Igba of Warri, said mothers across the country would take the bull by the horn to ensure immediate resolution of the crisis between the ASUU members and the Federal Government.

Part of the steps would be to organise a nationwide conference where the women would work out plans to discuss with both parties.

Ogbebor said she was peeved by inadequate attention given to the strike, as thousands of youths sit frustrated in their respective homes across the country.

She described as unfortunate, the incessant crisis rocking the nation’s varsities, promising that mothers in Nigeria would soon commence dialogue with ASUU and the government to calm troubled waters.

“I am ashamed that we are not looking at these problems. Enough is enough. We must now face the facts. I repeat, enough is enough! We must now face the facts.

“If nobody sees these problems, the mothers in Nigeria see these problems. We do not want half-baked children. These children are with us at home. They are forming gangs because they have nothing to do. They sit at cybercafés all day.

“Their Blackberry phones have become a ready tool for them to go on internet and commit fraud. For these reasons, the mothers in Nigeria are meeting at the Rita Lori Hotel in two weeks time to deliberate on this very serious issue, to take the bull by the horn,” she said.

Chief Ogbebor described education as the bedrock of the society, noting that all women in the country craved for qualitative education for their children. She expressed disappointment with the poor attention given to the education sector, saying the swelling population of rag-tag youths on the streets constitute serious threat to security.

“So, when we begin to underrate or overlook education, I wonder what we are doing. Why are we existing? Because, if the children are not trained, what kind of society are we trying to build? Can you have a disciplined society without proper education? So, I am often amazed that we don’t seem to take education very seriously. We don’t seem to understand what education is.

“I am often marvelled. Today, we are having convention of all parties. It is a big thing that we are having convention all over the country. People are very serious about party politics but they are not serious about our existence, the existence of our children and what makes the society,” she said.

She expressed disaffection with the large number of Nigerians travelling to neighbouring African countries for quality education, describing the trend as a national disgrace.

She vowed that the mothers would not stop until they achieve a lasting solution to the problem. She warned that the women could be forced to protest on the streets if both parties hold tenaciously to their positions that had contributed to the lingering feud.

Asked whether she was hopeful that the lecturers and the government would heed the voice of women for a lasting truce, Ogbebor said no government could survive the wrath of women.

“I think there is no government, who wants the wrath of mothers. Is there any government who wants the wrath of mothers? We will return home and tell our husbands and our children that such a government is a bad one. Will you not listen to your mother? This is why we are not only hoping, we are saying it is a task that has to be done.

All mothers will come out, except those who have so much money that they sent all their children abroad.But the market women will come out.

There is no woman who will go to the market to labour if she knows her children will not go to school,” she said.