A Nongovernmental organization, “Victims of Persecution” has accused the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and nine other institutions and persons responsible for education in the country of mortgaging the future of Nigerian youths by not doing enough to resolve the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) strike.
The other nine institutions and organisations are the Minister of education, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Executive Secretary National University Commission, Chairman Senate Committee on Education (tertiary institutions), Chairman House Committee on Education(tertiary institutions) ,National President Academic Staff Union of Nigeria Universities.
The rest are National President Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Chairman Association of Vice Chancellors of States owned Universities and the President National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The organization said that ASUU strike that began in February has kept the Universities students at their homes for four months running without any meaningful resolution in sight.
In a letter signed by the rapporteur of ‘Victims of Persecution’ and former Attorney-General for Justice, Imo State , Chukwuma- Machukwu Ume (SAN), the organization regretted that while the future of our youths are being mortgaged, the governments looked the other way unconcerned about their blink future.
“The governments are unconcerned about the current state of the youths education and related motley affairs in the country, ” it stated.
It said that there is no doubt that Nigerian is bedeviled with myriad of problems but this lingering perennial ASUU strikes is killing the future of our country .
“Suffice it to say, today, you are one of the few persons that providence has positioned to contribute to the destiny of Nigeria and that of our children”, the Victims of Persecution’ stated. It added that “this can only be achieved through conscious departure from our culture of lip service to functional education in our tertiary education.”
It regretted, that despite the clear provisions of Article 11(3) of African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child, that the country ascribed to, no effective step seem to have been taken to address the perennial ASUU strikes since 1988 .
The Victims of Persecution’ observed that even the nation annual education budget has continue to drop over the years without any sign of improvement.
It said that “Nigeria is the only country that experience this unflattering perennial monstrosity in it’s education sector.”
And unfortunately, “the government does not seem to be uncomfortable with this generational setback and critical decay in the heartbeat of the country’s tomorrow.”
It warned that,“soon there could be more guns than books and more kidnapping bushes than libraries.”
The Victims of Persecution also copied President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.