The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday described President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy on education as “wicked and criminal against the needs of Nigerian youth”.
The union accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of “a deliberate plan to starve public education with funds in order to deny Nigerian youths the right to know and challenge misrule”.
Chairman, University of Ibadan chapter of ASUU, Professor Deji Omole, in a statement made available to newsmen, lamented that “the sacrifices of understaffed and underpaid Nigerian academic will be futile if President Buhari does not increase education funding”.
Omole insisted that the University of Ibadan is presently groaning due to paucity of funds, insufficient staff, decayed infrastructure and bad laboratories.
According to the ASUU chief, “education is not the priority of the Buhari government”.
He lamented that over 500,000 Nigerian children who desire public university education are rejected annually due to poor funding, decayed infrastructure and reduced manpower.
Professor Omole said unless urgent steps were taken to cater for the needs of the Nigerian children, many of them would fight back with crime.
He said, “APC Government failure to fund education was a design to kill public universities. University of ibadan is groaning terribly due to paucity of funds.
“Retired academics cannot be replaced because government deliberately refused to make budgetary provision for growth and development.
“This crisis has led to the staff on ground being overworked leading to early deaths of many of our colleagues. Education is not the priority of this government.
“Due to paucity of funds many universities including university of Ibadan, the nation’s premier university cannot admit many qualified candidates into the universities.
“This is dangerous to the society as the rejected qualified and brilliant candidates may eventually take to crimes because the country has rejected them. The policy is not only wicked but criminal.”
Meanwhile, following recent appointments announced by the presidency, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday berated President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for alleged insensitivity to the welfare of the people of the country.
It also alleged that Buhari had abandoned Nigerians to their fate and was only interested in the appointment of aides to serve his immediate personal comfort and necessities.
This allegations were made by the spokesman of the opposition party, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement made available to newsmen, in Abuja.
Ologbondiyan added, “The party described as highly unfortunate that at a time millions of Nigerians are hurting and suffering untold hardship due to lack of attention to critical sectors of our economy and national life, President Buhari is only concerned about his personal needs.
“The PDP says such unpatriotic and self-centred acts, which is a direct slap on the sensitivity of the citizens, are only associated with leaders who do not have the mandate of the people but found themselves in office as beneficiaries of manipulated elections.
“That is why at the time Nigerians expect urgent interventions on critical issues of national insecurity and uncertainties; kidnapping and bloodletting; high costs of food and essential services; lack of affordable healthcare, decayed infrastructure and excruciating poverty in the land, President Buhari and his handlers are more interested in appointing house keepers and managers of social events that has only to do with him.”
Further, PDP urged Nigerians to note that this development and the alleged general lethargy in governance was a weighty effect of the validity challenge that confronts governance in the nation following the alleged rigging of the 2019 Presidential election.
The PDP spokesman claimed that such unseriousness further amplified the alleged insensitivity and incompetence of the Buhari Presidency.
Also, the party said the scenario as it portrayed was indications of the alleged deplorable situation that might further befall the nation under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
