ASUU: NUC Seeks VCs’ Support to End Protracted Strike

•Northern students’ group direct 19 state chapters to join NLC protest

Adedayo Akinwale and Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Executive Secretary of the National Universities’ Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed has urged Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities to intervene in the ongoing industrial dispute between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government.

Rasheed made the call in Abuja yesterday, at the 2022 Retreat for Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities’ and Directors of inter-university centres.

He described university education as fundamental to the success of any economy.

According to him, nations all over the world explore teaching, research and community service to the developing of technical resources for the development of aspirations and goals.

He, therefore, said there was the need to put in place measures, identify challenges and come up with solutions to reposition the university system.

“This year’s retreat is bordering on area of threat and uncertainty in our public universities, due to the unfortunate strike, especially as ASUU is in its sixth months now.

“And as vice-chancellors, we have a deep understanding of the negative consequences of the prolonged closure of universities.

“We know what it means in terms of our operation as an economy.

“As vice-chancellors, we know what this strike means in terms of our institutions’ reputation but more importantly, we know what it means in terms of the future of the youths.

“Our retreat must, therefore, identify and support ongoing efforts by government and the ministry of education to end this strike, by putting credible measures of ensuring stability in our campuses.”

Rasheed also said the Commission had been involved in comprehensive curriculum review and had created many new academic programmes in the university system.

He identified data science, analytics and mobile communication as programmes now added to the family of information technology in the universities.

He said the commission had also unbundled a number of programmes, especially in Mass Communication and Agriculture to provide for independent degree programmes.

He charged them to fulfil their primary role and their mandate, while sympathising with them on how difficult their role is especially during the currently strike.

He charged them to make use of the retreat to open up the problems and challenges in the system while coming up with recommendations that would strengthen the Nigerian universities system.

Also, the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Goodluck Opiah, urged the vice-chancellors to maintain their key role in ensuring adherence to their mandate.

Opiah urged the vice-chancellors to manage the day-to-day administration of the universities, by working with university’s council and the government to promote the fortune of the university education.

He also commended the NUC for its various initiatives in repositioning the university system.

Meanwhile, the student’s wing of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has directed all its state chapters to mobilise students and parents to join Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for a massive protest that would entail the shutting down of activities in all states and National Assembly, major highways, airways and railways.

The NLC has expressed its resolve to hold a two-day national protest, between July 26th and 27th,  to demand the immediate reopening of the country’s public-owned tertiary institutions which had been shut down for five months.

Owing to this, the National Coordinator of the group, Jamilu Charanchi in a statement yesterday, observed that the federal government and ASUU have been at loggerheads over the failure of the former to fulfil some of the agreements it made as far back as 2009.

It also observed that the federal government was unconcerned by the disadvantages of the closure as disproportionate underprivileged students who have fewer or zero educational opportunities beyond Nigeria as their parents are unable to redirect them to foreign-based/private owned schools that remain open.

The group lamented that politicians have also been unconcerned about the strike, saying their major concern had been how to secure the next election, rather than securing the next generation and the future of the country.

It said: “As a last option and failure of these decent moves to yield positive results and ensure the reopening of universities, we hereby direct all our state chapters to mobilise students and parents to join NLC for a massive protest that would entail the shutting down of activities in all states and national assemblies, all political party offices and all major highways, airways and railways.

“It is unfortunate that people in government today, who are the major beneficiaries of the magnanimity and foresight of past Nigerian leaders in the provision of quality, accessible, readily available and affordable education are today the same people working to deprive other generations of the same privileges.

“We are left with no option but to do anything humanly possible which will ensure the reopening of our classes.”