The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has continued its strike action, and President Muhammadu Buhari has told its members that “enough is enough.”
While hosting APC governors who paid him a visit at his house in Daura, Katsina state, the president made the call to ASUU.
The President expressed concern that the strike’s generational effects on families, the educational system, and the nation’s future growth should cause the ASUU leadership to reevaluate their stance on the ongoing strike.
The President claimed that the strike had already had an impact on the psychology of guardians, students, and other interested parties, bringing up numerous moral issues that urgently needed attention.
He noted that the future of the country rests on the quality of educational institutions and education, while assuring that the government understands their position, and negotiations should continue, with students in lecture halls.
“We hope that ASUU will sympathise with the people on the prolonged strike. Truly, enough is enough for keeping students at home. Don’t hurt the next generation for goodness sake,” he said.
The president called on all well meaning Nigerians, particularly those close to the leaders and members of the association, to intervene in persuading the lecturers to reconsider their position, and the ripple effect on an entire generation and the nation.
President Buhari said students from Nigerian universities will be faced with the challenge of competing with others in a highly connected and technology-driven work space, and keeping them at home only deprives them of time, skill and opportunities to be relevant on the global stage.
“Colonial type education was geared towards producing workers in government. Those jobs are no longer there. Our young people should get education to prepare them for self-employment. Now education is for the sake of education.
Through technology we are much more efficient. We should encourage our children to get education, not only to look for government jobs,” he said
President Buhari said resources should be channeled more into building infrastructure and operations of the health and educational sector, not to expand the bureaucracy to create job opportunities.
“By this time next year, I would have made the most out of the two terms, and the remaining months I will do my best,” the President noted.