ASUU: Without strike, FG wouldn’t have funded public universities

ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, over improved funding for universities, review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.

Akinwole said lecturers in public universities in the country have sacrificed to run the institutions, adding that the federal government was given enough time to address the union’s demands before the latest strike.

“Lecturers retain Nigerian public universities with their blood, but is it right for Nigerians to say they should die on the job? I am saying they are owing us over eight years verified earned academic allowances,” he said.

“Is it only ASUU that is on strike? Some sectors (research institutes) of the nation have been on strike for 13 months and the government has been paying their salaries.

“Is it an offence to become lecturers in Nigerian universities? What led to the strike? It is the non-responsiveness of the government that led to the strike.

“We waited for 14 months from December 2020 to February 2022 before declaring this strike. I am saying 14 months’ notice, 14 months engagements and Nigeria Inter-religious council intervened in 2021, when we would have declared the strike.

“We gave them one month with no result. Heroes are gone before they are appreciated, but our union will not die. We will not die. We are going to be alive to see this struggle through.

“If ASUU does not go on this struggle, there will be no university for new people to attend. In the last 25 years, the federal government would not have spent money on its universities, if ASUU had not gone on strike.

“I am also a parent and my children are at home with me. Most lecturers have to spend their money on their students’ projects for some students to graduate. I could give you numbers of some of my students who can tell you how much I have had to support their projects.”

According to NAN, Akinwole added that the N1.1 trillion for revitalisation of universities, which was part of ASUU’s demands, was not for lecturers.

He said the figure was reached by the federal government through its needs assessment report on the efforts to improve tertiary institutions.

He, however, thanked members of the union who have supported the industrial action.