President Muhammadu Buhari has intervened in the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
On Monday, July 11, Buhari called on members of ASUU to call off their five-months-old strike saying ”enough is enough”.
The president made the call while receiving APC governors who paid him a visit in his home in Daura, Katsina State.
According to him, the leadership of ASUU should reconsider their position on the continued strike. Buhari also expressed worry that the strike will have generational consequences on families, the educational system and future development of the country.
He said the strike had already taken a toll on the psychology of parents, students and other stakeholders, throwing up many moral issues that already beg for attention, noting that the future of the country rests on the quality of educational institutions and education, while assuring that the government understands their position, and negotiations should continue, with students in lecture halls.
“We hope that ASUU will sympathise with the people on the prolonged strike. Truly, enough is enough for keeping students at home. Don’t hurt the next generation for goodness sake,” he said.
The president called on all well meaning Nigerians, particularly those close to the leaders and members of the association, to intervene in persuading the lecturers to reconsider their position, and the ripple effect on an entire generation and the nation.
President Buhari said students from Nigerian universities will be faced with the challenge of competing with others in a highly connected and technology-driven work space, and keeping them at home only deprives them of time, skill and opportunities to be relevant on the global stage.
“Colonial type education was geared towards producing workers in government. Those jobs are no longer there. Our young people should get education to prepare them for self-employment. Now education is for the sake of education.
“Through technology we are much more efficient. We should encourage our children to get education, not only to look for government jobs,” he said
President Buhari said resources should be channeled more into building infrastructure and operations of the health and educational sector, not to expand the bureaucracy to create job opportunities.
“By this time next year, I would have made the most out of the two terms, and the remaining months I will do my best,” the President noted.
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