Education

A security expert, Mr Chuks Iwunoh, has warned that the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) poses a serious security risk to the nation. Iwunoh, who issued the warning in an interview in Umuahia on Friday, said that a good number of the students affected by the strike had become exposed to social vices, including crime. Iwunoh, who is a member of the International Institute of Professional Security, is also the President and Founder of Impact Alliance for Peace and Humanitarian Development. He described the university teachers’ action as “too long for comfort” with the US-trained human rights consultant appealing to both the federal government and ASUU to resolve the dispute. He said that the failure by both parties to reach an agreement for so long “amounts to a grievous breach of the fundamental human rights of the affected youths”. He further urged the two parties to make sacrifices and reach a compromise in order not to totally destroy what little value is left of the nation’s education system. Iwunoh said that no other nation in the world closes down almost its entire university system in such circumstances for such a long time. According to him, the situation is disruptive and destructive to the youths and human capital development of the nation. “So, sacrifices must be made, compromises must be reached, our universities must reopen in earnest for the sake of our children,” he said. Recall that public universities in the country have been shut since Feb. 14, when ASUU embarked on the strike.