ASUU warns Benue State Governor over utterances

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam to be mindful of his utterances on the strike.

Suswam, when hosting the National Union of Benue State Students last week, said the ASUU strike was becoming politised, adding that it was no longer an agitation for the improvement of the lecturers’ welfare.

But ASUU denied any political connection to its strike, saying there was nothing political in asking for the full implementation of a four-year-old agreement.

The union said if at all, it was the Federal Government through its propaganda machinery that was politicising the issue by refusing to implement the agreement it signed with the union.

A statement by the ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan chapter, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, made available to reporters, urged Governor Suswam to guard his utterances and limit his comments to the mandate given him by the Federal Government.

Ajiboye quoted Suswam as saying: “ASUU has no business continuing with this strike because the Federal Government has met its demands. There is nothing on the list of their demands that government has not touched.”

According Dr. Ajiboye, ASUU has a legitimate agreement with the Federal Government since 2009, which the government has refused to fully implement.

He asked the leaders to demonstrate the love they have for the country by withdrawing their children from private universities in the country and abroad and stop travelling abroad for medical treatment, adding that they should use the health facilities in the country.

The ASUU leader said as members of the intellectual community, they were surprised that the leader of the Federal Government’s Needs Assessment Implementation Committee was losing sight of the reality that there was a difference between an agreement and a demand.

Reiterating the resolve of the body to get full implementation before going back to the classroom, Ajiboye said ASUU would not allow the Federal Government to mortgage public education.
He said the political class has been selfish.

Ajiboye said it was laughable that Governor Suswam could ask ASUU to consider the nation and students when it was ASUU that was fighting to save the nation from maladministration.

“Are Nigerians heating up the polity when they say roads are bad, health facilities are in comatose and that politicians are sucking the nation dry? Are these not visible everywhere? How can a governor say we should soft-pedal and stop heating up the polity?

“Our leaders should show leadership and faith in the country by withdrawing their children in foreign and private universities. Governors and other political office holders must also show Nigerians that they can vouch for the quality of health facilities and roads by patronising our hospitals and travelling by road. The roads are so bad that it has become fashionable for our leaders to buy jets. Nelson Mandela was ill and was treated in a Pretoria hospital. Our Governors, President’s wife, Senate President and other political office holders travel out to treat Malaria and undergo medical check up. Yet they do media hype, claiming they have revived the health sector.

“People die on a daily basis due to insecurity. Who is then heating up the polity? We are patriots in ASUU. We believe Nigeria must work and our children deserve the same quality education, health, and roads, which our leaders and their children have access to abroad, using our collective patrimony,” the union boss said.


The Nation