Atiku, Others Sign Petition To End ASUU Strike

Union of Universities to end the industrial
dispute which has kept public universities
shut for four months.
The petition launched on change.org, a go-
to site for web protests, is asking President
Goodluck Jonathan and the National
President of ASUU, Dr. Nassir Faggae, to
reach an “amicable consensus.”
In the petition entitled, “Mr. President and
the Academic Staff Union of Universities:
Please End the ASUU Strike now,” the
petitioners said the Presidency should stop
playing politics with education of the
Nigerian youth.
The petition read in part, “Since the ASUU
strike began, it has been over half a
semester, a lot in the life of students
waiting at home, not knowing when the
strike will be over. The future of Nigeria is
at stake. Stop playing politics with
education.
“It is urgent we send a message that it is
long past time for the FG and ASUU to
reach consensus and get students back to
school by ending this strike.”
A majority of non-students who appended
their signature to the petition noted that
they joined the online protest with a view to
crying out to ASUU and the FG to consider
poor students whose parents cannot afford
the luxury of sending them overseas to
study like the sons and daughters of
political office holders.
Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar,
joined other students and concerned
Nigerians clamouring for a speedy end to
the crisis rocking the higher education
sector.
Atiku, who featured the link to the petition
signing website on his Twitter handle,
wrote, “We should never play politics with
education. Our future depends on it. It is
time for the FG and ASUU to reach a
consensus and get students back to school
by ending this strike.”
An Abuja-based post-graduate student in
one of the public universities in the
country, Mubarak Jubrin, expressing his
dissatisfaction, wrote: “I am stuck with a
semester to finish my Master’s programme.
The FG should be doing everything possible
to rescue the one institution left that is
working towards producing better human
beings who will shape the future of our
dear country.”
Noting that prolonged shutting down of
public universities is a dangerous omen for
the society and development of the nation,
a Kaduna-based student, Tarik Abubakar,
also said Nigerians students were being
denied their rights to education.
“Students in other countries are enjoying
their rights to education. I am pleading with
the FG and ASUU to settle their issue and
call off the strike,” Abubakar stated.
A Nigerian student studying at the
University of Cape Town, South Africa,
Godspower Onwudiwe, lamented that the
industrial action paints a bad picture of
Nigeria on the international scene.
Onwudiwe stated, I feel so sorry for my
beloved country because these incessant
strikes are a barrier to her general
development. Also, as a student in the
Diaspora, it paints a very pitiful and
shameful picture on our international
identity.
“I cannot wait to not only see this strike
end but also the end of future strikes to the
detriment of the future of this generation
and our country at large.”
Jemima Gana, who was moved to sign the
petition because she believes that the
status quo needs to change as the
prosperous future of Nigeria depends on
quality education, which is being
threatened by the strike.
Gana, who according to the information she
provided on the site, is based in Lagos, said
Nigerian students need a stable learning
environment devoid of strikes for them to
be able to compete globally.
“It is so important to me because it is high
time the FG took the value of education
seriously and in high regard. Students in
Nigeria need a stable environment to
acquire knowledge and graduate on time in
order to contribute their skills to the
growth and development of this great
nation,” she wrote.
www.punchng.com/i-punch/atiku-215-
others-sign-petition-to-end-ASUU-strike/

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