ASUU To Umahi: You Said Varsity Not For Everyone But Your Son Graduated Abroad

The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, has urged Nigerian students not to vote for any politician whose children attend schools abroad.

He made the call while speaking on a Twitter Space organized by Premium Times which was tagged ‘ASUU strike, Revitalisation Fund, and the Way Forward’.

He urged students not to vote for any representative who would not look out for their interests.

“Anybody you believe cannot take care of your interests, whose children are busy studying abroad, who are living abroad, don’t vote for them, I repeat, you don’t need to vote for them because you don’t vote for people who will take your life,” he said.

Osodeke also spoke on the comments made by Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, that university education was not for everyone and that he considered it unreasonable for the Federal Government to borrow N1trillion to satisfy the Union’s demands.

The ASUU President said that it was unfair for the governor to say that when his son graduated from a university abroad.

“Education is about life. A governor was saying education is not for everybody and then we saw his son graduating outside (abroad) with governors around. I will repeat it; the Nigerian students should hold their PVC.

“Anybody who will not look at their interests, who, in his campaign, will not show that he’s going to improve the Nigerian educational system, they should vote them out,” he said.

ASUU has been on strike since February 14th, which brings the duration of the strike this year to 6 months.

The Union embarked on the strike to press home its numerous demands which include payment of earned allowances and salaries for lecturers, improved funding and maintenance for tertiary institutions, the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability system (UTAS) for salary payment instead of the government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the renegotiation of the ASUU FG 2009 agreement, among others.

THE WHISTLER reported that the Union’s most recent meeting with the FG, which was held on Tuesday at the National Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters in Abuja, ended in a deadlock with the ASUU leadership staging a walkout.