The chances of the over one million, seven hundred thousand candidates seeking admission into public universities for the 2022/23 session are fast diminishing as a result of the ongoing ASUU strike.
- The fate of Nigerian students seeking admission into varsities uncertain over the ongoing Asuu Strike.
- There’s no evidence that the universities will reopen anytime soon.
- Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar says he would work with university lecturers to end ASUU strike permanently if elected.
- Federal government call on all the striking unions to continue renegotiations next week with the hope to something reasonable to come up.
The candidates sat for the 2022 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination in May but the institutions where they hope to continue their education pursuit have remained shut for the sixth month running following the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on February 14.
The 2021/22 academic session should have been over by now and preparation for the new session in full swing if not for the strikes.
The Federal Government and ASUU are not shifting their positions and there is no evidence that the universities will reopen anytime soon.
The National President of SSANU, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim yesterday shared his fears about the logistic problems that the universities are likely to face if and when the ASUU strike is over.
“The strike will definitely affect the 2022 admission because there is already a backlog of a set of students that have not started anything. “Even if the Federal Government addresses the strike today, there is already confusion. As you are aware, most of the universities have not completed their last session. “So there was already an admission that people just registered and had not even started attending lecturers before the strike commenced. “About three sets of students are waiting to be admitted to start their courses. The system is saturated. “It will only take serious discussions, permutations to solve this problem. As you are aware, there are limited spaces in public universities as a result of infrastructure deficit and human resources. “Nobody can explain what will happen.”
As it was reported earlier by Thegazettengr that the Minister of State for Labour and Employment,Mr.Festus Keyamo, said that the Federal Government was not in a position to borrow N1.2 trillion yearly to resolve the long running strike embarked by ASUU.
In an interview with the ChannelTv, the minister said;
“Should we go and borrow to pay N1.2 trillion yearly?” “You cannot allow one sector of the economy to hold you by the jugular and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion for overheads when our total income would be about N6.1 trillion. And you have roads to build, health centres to build, other sectors to take care of,”
According to the minister, toward the our report last week, he further asked parents across the country to beg ASUU to suspend the ongoing strike which draws angry reactions from many Nigerians.
According to the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, he told newsmen yesterday that the unions have been asked to resume negotiations with the Federal Government Committee handling the 2009 agreements with the university unions.
The Committee is chaired by Prof. Emeritus, Nimi Briggs, Pro-Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo.
The SSANU national president said:
“The strike is on but the Federal Government has asked all the unions to resume the renegotiation with the Nimi Briggs Committee.
He further added;
“We are looking forward to next week as we are also hopeful that something tangible and reasonable will come up.”
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday pledged to work with government and lecturers to end incessant strikes in Nigerian universities.
Abubakar spoke at a youths programme with the theme “Intergenerational Synergy on Government”, organised by the PDP to commemorate the 2022 International Youth Day celebration in Abuja.
Abubakar, who recalled how his late father was arrested for never wanting him to go to school, described education as a fundamental right of any citizen, especially the children and youths.
He decried the inability of the government to resolve the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), saying such would not happen under a PDP administration headed by him.
He said he would work with university authorities and government to “make sure we end this incessant strikes by ASUU.”
He added:
“This is because education is fundamental to your growth. It doesn’t matter whether you are in politics, business or any sector. The fundamental right of every youth or every citizen is to be educated.
