The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Thursday, criticized the Federal Government saying Nigeria has nothing to celebrate on its 62nd independence anniversary, which would be marked on the 1st of October.
The university strike actions have been on for the past seven months, which has crumbled the educational system of the country putting students out of school.
The President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview with Guardian, said from politics and economy to security, education, healthcare, and religion, the country has failed to live up to the dreams of its founding fathers at the dawn of Independence in 1960.
He lamented that after 62 years of independence Nigeria is still battling leadership issues.
He said: “When you take a look at all the sectors, you ask yourself, what are we celebrating? In Nigeria today, a flight from Abuja to Lagos is about N100,000, and anybody going by road is not sure of his safe arrival. Civil servants are earning N30,000 a month, which is less than a bag of rice.
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“There is nothing to celebrate, our children are at home; those in secondary schools have been taken over by private schools where little or nothing is happening. I think we should just use this period to reflect on all the things that have gone wrong in the country and how to address them. Our young men and women are at home and the government is not bothered. It is a very sad development.”
He urged the federal government to take up deliberate actions in increasing the annual budgetary allocation to education as recommended by UNESCO.
“It is very easy to address some of the challenges we are facing. Go to the countries around us, they have made education a priority. Ghana dedicates over 20 percent of its national budget to education and we give just 5.3 percent, which means we don’t have any value for education.
“Any government that is serious about education will allocate a huge part of its budget to education and train the youth,” he said.
At the ‘Nigeria at 62 Independence Day Anniversary Public Lecture ’ held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, Vice President Yemi Osibango gave his remark.
He said: “We who are the elite are a privileged class, but privilege comes with responsibility. It is the French who describe it as ‘Noblesse Oblige,’ the responsibility of privilege.”
Osinbajo noted that “the story of successful societies is the story of how the society’s elite – its best educated, its political and religious class, influence, direct and lead their societies to progress.
“Put differently, every successful society is the product of a conscious, elite consensus; the implicit and explicit agreements of the elite to change their societies for good. But the elite must be prepared to make the sacrifices for the benefit of everyone.”
