ASUU, other strikes causing irreversible damage to education – Prof Ishaq.
By Onome Naomi
Strikes by unions in Nigerian tertiary institutions are causing irreparable damage to the country’s educational system, according to Prof Ishaq, Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
In a separate event, the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) explained why the organisation has suspended nationwide protests in response to the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ ongoing strike.
Oloyede stated this yesterday in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, when JAMB, in collaboration with Project Cure, a US-based organisation, presented a multi-billion naira medical equipment to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) for improved health care delivery in Nigeria.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) are currently on strike. According to Oloyede, the strike is unnecessary.
While acknowledging that the primary responsibility for reasonable (even if insufficient) funding of public health and education institutions rests with the proprietors—the government,” he continued, “may I take this opportunity to call on employers and university-based labour unions to appreciate the irreparable damage of incessant strikes on not only the students but also the nation.”
Oloyede stated that the board’s intervention in the area of health care delivery was to support the government’s efforts to address the massive medical infrastructural gap. He also stated that JAMB would continue to trim its expenses through prudent management, adoption of relevant cost-saving technology, and other efficiency-strategies in order to free up resources to support major stakeholders such as tertiary health and educational institutions in order to uplift the health sector.
He stated that the hospital equipment would be used in 12 beneficiaries’ health facilities across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
An anglepoise lamp, ventilator, consumables, mattress, OG couch, gynaecology chair, treatment table, treadmill machine, crutches, ICU beds, urinary catheters, defibrillator machines, laparoscopy machines, needle and syringes, wheelchairs, Oxygen concentrator, suction machines, endoscopy machines, and other items are among the equipment.
NANS accused the Federal Government of sabotaging genuine protests to compel lecturers to reopen public universities while explaining why it suspended its nationwide protests over the ongoing ASUU strike.
ASUU began a one-month strike on February 14, which was later extended to two months.
“In the area of the ASUU strike,” NANS Senate President Chuks Okafor said in a statement on Friday. We’ve tried our hardest to work with government agencies, but we can only lead the horse to the water, not force it. However, as the leadership of Nigerian students, we will continue to reach out to the government and ASUU leadership to ensure that the strike is called off as soon as possible.”
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Since the 9th of May, 2022, Okafor has expressed concern about the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) inability to obey the Supreme Court judgement of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) leadership.
The student body demanded that INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu implement the Supreme Court’s ruling on APGA leadership without bias or face mass protests.
