Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to urgently address the needs of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Buhari on Monday commented on the last stand.
The strike which commenced on Monday, February 14, 2022, has led to a collapse of academic activities in Nigerian public universities.
But Falana accused the government of ignoring warning strikes initially embarked upon by the union.
“Four months ago, ASUU commenced the current strike to compel the Federal Government to comply with the FG/ASSU Agreement on funding of all federal universities in Nigeria. According to the binding Agreement the total fund that the FG ought to have provided to revamp the universities is N200 billion in line with its obligation under the Agreement.
“Before then, the warning strikes embarked upon by ASUU was ignored by the Federal Government. Thus, the ongoing industrial action which has paralysed the federal universities has lingered on due to the refusal of the Federal Government to meet its commitment under the FG/ASUU Agreement. However, in justifying the unwarranted breach of the Agreement, the Federal Government has complained of lack of fund.
“Instead of addressing the outstanding grey areas in the prolonged negotiations, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Visitor to all federal universities in the country, has urged ASUU to consider the long-term effect of the strike on students and the generational consequences on families, the educational system and the future development of the country,” Falana said in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja.
Speaking further, Falana said, “The claim of the Federal Government that it lacks the financial resources to fund university education has been taken with a pinch of salt by the Nigerian people. Having regard to the way and manner huge public fund has been expended on other projects, it does appear that the Federal Government has not prioritised higher education.
“For instance, the electricity sector and the counter-insurgency operations in two regions in the country have consumed not less than N6 trillion without any tangible result. The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria claims that N5.4 trillion is owed by a section of the comprador bourgeoisie whose toxic debts were bought with public fund. Even though N443 billion was spent on the importation of fuel from January to June 2022, the National Assembly has approved N4 trillion for the same product from July to December 2022, due to the comatose status of the nation’s refineries.
“The Federal Government has also made available N100 billion for revamping the textile industry; N850 billion for rice production; N250 billion for autogas vehicle conversion and other fund for school feeding programme. Apart from its annual budget of N40 billion, the Independent National Electoral Commission has received N100 billion as the first tranche of the 2022 budget to conduct the 2023 general election.
“A government that can afford to spend trillions of naira on the aforesaid projects cannot afford to ignore the funding of higher education. Therefore, the federal government should adopt concrete measures to end the ASUU strike without any further delay. Instead of lamenting over the strike, President Buhari should urgently submit a supplementary budget to the National Assembly for the appropriation of the sum of N200 billion required to revamp the federal universities. This demand is in accordance with the FG/ASUU Agreement, whose terms are binding on the Federal Government. The National Assembly, concerned parents, progressive civil society bodies, and other relevant stakeholders should prevail on President Buhari to do the needful with a view to ending the strike without any further delay.”
