ASUU STRIKE, ALMOST OVER. MUST READ!!!

By Oduwaiye Fela

Nigerian students were yesterday assured by the Federal Government that the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, would be over in a very soon.

Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike stated this at the anniversary lecture of National Universities Commission, NUC, in Abuja.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Macjohn Nwaobiala, the minister reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to resolving the ongoing strike. “The Federal Government is very concerned about the state of public tertiary institutions in the country. The Federal Government is really worried about the ongoing strike of ASUU and the strike would be resolved in a few months,” Wike said.

In his paper presentation titled, ‘Turbulent and Testing Times for Global Higher Education: Lessons for Nigeria’, Professor John Daniel said “online teaching and learning is now part of the future of most universities. Nigeria should be very good at this because without embarrassing you by pressing the point, I note that your country, through 419 scams, is a world leader in the use of the internet for less desirable purposes.” According to him, higher education all over the world is facing lot of challenges that included youth unemployment and the current changes in the university system. “These are indeed turbulent times, not only for United States of America but also for much of higher education globally,” he said.

In his goodwill message, a former Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Jubril Munzali, noted that the education sector has been underfunded for 21 years, with the significant increase in the funding of tertiary institutions being done over time, through the struggle of ASUU. He blamed the Federal Government for the lingering crisis rocking the nation’s university system. According to him, it is high time the Federal Government listened to its agencies and allow NUC perform its statutory role and fund universities based on the advice of its agencies like NUC. “Successive administrations in the country never paid adequate attention to university education,” Munzali said.

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