Students beware, ASUU is fighting for itself

Sir, Neither the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) nor the Federal Government is sincere in the struggle for education; and as a student, it is gullible to think ASUU is fighting for students’ welfare!

For some years now, the ASUU strike has been a great challenge to our educational system in Nigeria, embarking on incessant strike actions as a means of compelling the FG into being committed to their agreement. But under Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the ASUU strike actions reach extremism and have now become a menace, hydra-headed monster towards the smooth sailing of education in Nigeria today.

According to a report by the Punch newspaper, the ASUU and The Academic Union of the Polytechnic (ASUP) had been on a cumulative strike of 719 days under Buhari’s administration, as of the 15th of June when reported, which is approximately two years!

It’s not gain saying that the Buhari’s administration since the last seven years is a disastrous one to the socio-political and economic ladder of the country. This economic setback has been an issue for the last seven years, even within the states of the federation. Buhari’s administration crumbled the various sectors in the country and rendered them a toothless bulldogs. But ASUU is a selfish union only concerned about its members’ welfare at all costs. 

Medical workers embarked on a nationwide strike last year. Also the national assembly workers protested over unpaid allowances by the government. This situation is also the case in most states in Nigeria today, non-payment of civil servants’ salaries is a trend, which has now become a norm among the state governors. Even government retirees suffer it.

Here in Ondo State, the civil servants are just being paid a percentage of January’s salary in June. Teachers are yet to receive a dime in their 2022 salary. So the various labour unions under this administration have all witnessed a breach of the contractual agreement between them and the Federal Government. Is it that these unions or groups can’t come to the media to speak vocabulary? Or the ASUU grievances are more important than those of the unions and groups mentioned?

ASUU should go back to work. Keeping students (the so-called future of a Nation) at home for over six months is destructive to their mental and psychological well-being, as we all have other things to pursue other than a university degree.

I, therefore, appeal to all university students to be free from this ignorance. Never be brainwashed by a union that keeps students at home for over six months, but still has the tenacity to demand payment for those months they never work. Education is our fundamental right, which ASUU and FG have deprived us of!

• Obebe Michael Damilola is a student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA).