President Goodluck Jonathan
has pleaded with the
Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) to stop
being adamant over their
protracted strike and
return to classrooms for the
sake of the students
who, he said, were the worst
hit by the industrial
action. He made the appeal
when he commissioned
the three-storey College of
Engineering Complex in
the Afe Babalola University,
Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti
State, named after him.
Jonathan has also cautioned
the union not to abuse
the freedom of association and
the right of workers to
go on strike or even use it to
the detriment of the
nation, just as he noted that
whatever the grievances
the striking workers have,
keeping students out of
school for four months is quite
unpatriotic.
He said, I
once again appeal to the entire
membership of ASUU
to pause and ponder on the
adverse effect of their
action on the future of the
vibrant youths of this
great nation. The collective
destiny of tens of
thousands of tomorrow's
leaders should not be held
hostage to vagaries of labour
disputes. As long as we
are humans, as long as we are
a developing society,
this labour dispute must come
up.
I believe that labour has the
right to go on strike,
but in that strike, any action
taken must be built on
patriotic zeal. In as much as you
can go on strike, you
must be patriotic to our
country. No matter how and
what you feel about Mr.
President and the federal
government, I plead with ASUU
that for the sake of
our students, they should
resume classes.
The President noted that while
four months would
have been enough for the
striking academics to drive
home their point on their
grievances against
government, keeping the
students beyond four
months which is equal to a
whole semester raises
suspicion of an ulterior motive
on the part of the
union.
He said: If it is a genuine strike,
keeping students
out of classrooms for almost
four months, by that
they have demonstrated to
everybody that they have
a case. And if the strike is
motivated by some other
interests, they have also
achieved that by keeping
students out of schools for
more than a semester.
“I always says that even in the
developed societies,
we hear about labour dispute
and there is no society,
even the most developed that
has provided the
facilities for every worker.
Our security services, the Police,
the Armed Forces,
Navy, Air Force and paramilitary,
intelligent services
are also operating in an
environment that is not the
best.
If all of us should go on long
strike because our
environment is not optimum,
then, definitely we can
never get the Nigeria of our
dream. So, let me use
this unique opportunity that I
am interfacing with our
future leaders, our students, to
plead with ASUU
members to return to class.
President Jonathan promised
that his administration
will continue to work with all
Nigerians to build a
better country for all and future
generation,
maintaining that as long
government had shown
commitment to improving the
qualities of
infrastructure in the
universities and the operating
environment, ASUU should
reconsider its stance.
He argued further that if
students of private
universities could get their
degrees within three and
a half years as witnessed in
ABUAD, it is
unacceptable that students of
public institutions are
kept for extra one or two years.
Congratulating the founder and
President of ABUAD,
Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) for
building for the country
such a magnificient citadel of
learning, Jonathan said
he was deeply humbled by the
decision to name the
College of Engineering of the
institution building
after him.
It is often said that great minds
leave great history
behind them and this history is
built on a very great
vision. The vision of Aare Afe
Babalola, founder of this
promising institution is a noble
one, he said.
Jonathan noted that historically,
some of the greatest
institutions of learning in the
world were shaped by
the vision, foresight and
personal experience of their
founders. He described
Babalola as a man of
“unassailable character,
profound vision, an epitome
of the highest ideals and a
quintessential Nigerian
patriot.
In his remarks, Afe Babalola,
recalled that the
university built some three and
half years ago was
worth over N60 billion in
private investments and
noted that with over 4000
students from 36 states of
Nigeria and FCT, the institution
is reputed to be the
fastest growing private
university in Africa.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria
said ABUAD is the
second best private university
in the country and the
14th best among all public and
private universities in
Nigeria, adding that his
decision to invest in the
education sector was informed
by his firm belief that
government cannot fund the
sector alone.
Noting that the best
universities in the world such
as
Oxford and Harvard are
privately owned, Babalola
said the naming of the College
of Engineering of the
institution after the president is
in recognition of the contributions of the
administration the educational sector.e also
appealed to the President
to intervene in the development
of the Ekiti Airport,
saying in-spite of the over
N600 million approved by
the federal government for the
commencement of
the project in 2011, nothing
has happened at the
site.
Governors who were present at
the event were
Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo),
Ramalan Yero (Kaduna),
Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe)
and the host governor,
Kayode Fayemi. Also in
attendance were Minister of
Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade;
Supervising Minister
for Education, Nyesom Wike;
Minister of State for
FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide and
Sen. Phillip Aduda (PDP