A Methodist Bishop and Governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Abia State, Bishop Dr. Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, has charged the Federal Government to resolve the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU in the interest of education in the country and to avert impending doom.
Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had on Monday, 29th, August, 2022, extended its six-month-old strike indefinitely until the Federal Government meets its demands.
ASUU embarked on the strike on February 14th, 2022. It had then declared a four-week warning strike. But after a month, the lecturers extended it by eight weeks, saying the government needs more time to look at its demands.
Reacting on Thursday to the continuous strike by Varsity Lecturers and FG’s inability to resolve issues raised by ASUU, Bishop Onuoha said he is disturbed that children who are often referred to as leaders of tomorrow have spent 6 months at home with it’s attendant negative effects.
He decried that the continuous stay at home of these leaders of tomorrow is not in the best interest of the nation, stressing that apart from making these young youth vulnerable to crime, it is also a burden to their parents who would have dreamt that some of their children must have graduated by now.
The ADC Governorship candidate who acknowledged that education is the right of every Nigerian child, reminded the Federal Government that they are doing a disservice to the younger generation through their failure to come to a compromise with the striking University lecturers.
He pointed out that time is running out for the strike to be called off, frowning that these youth who should be in school before now, may be exposed to dangers as campaigns ahead 2023 general elections will soon get underway.
Bishop Dr. Onuoha, advised the Federal Government to listen attentively to the plights of the striking lecturers with a view to finding a permanent solution just as he urged the Lecturers to also shift their grounds for the purpose of the Nigerian students who have looked frustrated staying at home for 6 months.
