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President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has vented his anger on state universities and described them as quacks in the process.
A seemingly angry Osodeke made this statement while featuring on Arise TV on Friday morning when answering questions on the decision by state-owned universities to call off the ongoing strike in their various institutions.
Osodeke posited that the discussion should be about the federal universities, such as the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN; the University of Ibadan, University of Maiduguri, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, among others, which according to him are the real universities in the country.
According to the ASUU Chairman, state Universities have never been part of the lecturers union and have not been seen as being part of them.
“Yobe State, go and check, just like Kaduna state university, what’s happening there? Please don’t set those examples, they’re irrelevant.
“Talk about the issue, is Ibadan on strike? Is UNN on strike? Is ABU on strike? Is BUK on strike? Is Maiduguri and Lagos on strike?
“Talk about important universities, not those quacks. They’re not part of our strike. Set the ones that are members of our strike,” he said.
One of the issues being raised by the academics is the non-payment of university revitalization funds, amounting to about N1.1 trillion, as all efforts by the government to make the union end the strike have been unsuccessful.
ASUU embarked on strike on February 14 over agitations and demands for improved welfare, University revitalization, and UTAS among many other pressing needs in the public Universities in the country.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has described as “wicked, selfish, and insensitive,” the ASUU’s demand for payment of the six months salary arrears for the period its members were on strike.
The union has included the demand as part of its conditions for calling off the strike which they embarked upon over six months ago.
The Federal Government had earlier restated its position of a ‘no work no pay’ insisting that ASUU had no reason to demand pay the period it stayed out of work.
ASUU will hold another NEC meeting on Sunday 29th of August 2022 to discuss the way forward on the ongoing strike embarked upon by the union.