ASUU saga: Why govt should not be blamed over prolonged strike

As the strike action embarked upon by the Academic staff union (ASUU) persists, the youth leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr Dayo Isreal insists that the government should not be blamed for the unfortunate development.

Speaking to reporters during the progressive young leader’s summit held in Abuja, he maintained that the strike action would come to an end if the striking lecturers yield considerable grounds.

The youth leader also faulted the widely held notion that the entire university system has been grounded due to the strike action embarked upon by ASUU.

Said he: “So let me first clarify, the country’s education system is not on a standstill because most of our state universities, if not all, are in operation. The issue of the ASUU strike is about federal universities. And this is not just about the government, but also an issue between ASUU as an institution.

“It’s a trade relation matter that the government has committed. I give you an example, the federal government says we are your employer, we want to pay you through IPPIS, the lecturers are saying we want to tell you how you want to pay us, pay us through UTAS.

“These are issues that are fundamental and must be dealt with. You work for a TV station, it is had to say to your employer, don’t pay me by bank account transfer at the end of the month, give me cash. That is the issue that is going on here.

“The government is working to ensure that they can come to a compromise. Everybody needs to shift. Everybody needs to find a way, a middle ground to compromise. You cannot put the totality of the blame on the government.”

Israel promised to mobilise the youth population to ensure the victory of the APC presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 poll.

“By the grace of God, we began grassroots mobilization, but also the first thing that we did was to ensure that we begin to empower young people. We must create opportunities for employment for young people,” he noted.

“We must create opportunity for the empowerment of young people. Also, help our young people to understand what their role is in developing, and building a great nation.

“One of the things that we also did was in the last primaries of the party, we were able to negotiate for 50% discount for everybody below the age of 40 and for the youth in our party because want to get the youth into the Parliament, or the House of Assembly and at the National Assembly.

“We are also engaging these young people to begin to become political stakeholders in their own community, mobilizing, doing door-to-door campaigns and also various advocacy in the grassroots as foot soldiers to ensure that we can deliver Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the next president, Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”