National Coordinator, Concerned Advocates for Good Governance, CAGG, Olusegun Bamgbose has vowed that there won’t be any ASUU strike throughout his administration if elected as Nigeria’s president comes 2023.
Bamgbose who has shown interest to contest for 2023 presidential election alleged that the amount of money embezzled by All Progressives Congress, APC, government was enough to settle all the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
In a chat with journalists, on Monday, the senior lawyer said it was quite unfortunate that the strike embarked upon by ASUU has lingered than necessary.
He said it is now very obvious to Nigerians that Buhari’s government is insensitive to the plight of students and their parents and has placed no value on Education.
“This government has failed to realize that the biggest infrastructure is not the building of roads, hospitals, etc, but rather, the most important and the biggest infrastructure is education.
“I’ll rather as President, negotiate for foreign loans to fund education than to build roads. This government has not come to terms with the fact that, education can’t be destroyed but roads and other infrastructures can.
“The attitude of this government towards funding education is most regrettable. The type of money embezzled by APC government can settle the lecturers one time.
“However I believe it’s high time we united as citizens of this nation, by ignoring this government and come to the rescue of our frustrated students.
“Virtually, none of their children is in any of these Universities, so they are not in any way bothered. I want to assure our undergraduates not to give up, there is hope.
“If elected as President, there won’t be any ASUU strike throughout my administration, I’ll expect the National Assembly to impeach me if there is any ASUU strike during my tenure as President.
“In the meantime, I’ll expect Nigerians to rise up to the occasion and rescue our students. It’s time to tell the government that Nigerian youths will not only protest when necessary, but also sacrifice to make things work, ” Bamgbose stated.
He said that in a matter of days, his team will contact the ASUU Chairman and know the modalities to settle the union’s demands and resolve this issue once and for all.
“We can’t just helplessly watch this administration destroy our hope of better tomorrow overnight,” he reiterated.
Recall that the ASUU strike has been for over a year with no significant resolutions on their demands from the government.
