The
Association of Northern Youths for the Advancement of Peace Harmony
& Development, ANYPAD, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to
resolve the lingering crisis between Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, and the Ministry of Education or face protest by
youth from the region.
The
association also commended the Federal government for the merger of
EFCC and ICPC, and urged the merging bodies to work effectively to
reduce corruption in the country, especially within the education
sector.
A
statement by the association’s national president, Melvin Ejeh, on
Friday said Nigerian university lecturers deserved better treatment from
the federal government.
“Our
lecturers and the entire university community deserve a better
condition of service if we must grow as a nation. We therefore call on
President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the two ministers forthwith and
employ all means within his disposal and resolve this once and for all,”
the statement said.
The
statement faulted the Minister of Education on her inability to resolve
ASUU issues amicably and asked that she resign to make way for a more
competent person.
“We
ask the Minister of Education, Rukayat Rufai and Minister of Labour and
Productivity, Emeka Wogu to resign their appointments forthwith or face
mass street protest from the youths,” the statement said, adding, “This
is a complete show of incompetence and lack of respect for the future
of Nigeria students.”
The
group noted that most of the people creating “artificial problems” in
the educational sub-sector, in their time, passed through the education
system with ease.
“We
are aware that most of these selfish public officers today enjoyed free
education and even got automatic employments. We wonder why they remain
adamant to ASUU and students plights since 2009. Our parents are always
running form pillars to poles to pay schools fees in spite of the
economic hardship in the country while some persons are sitting in the
comfort of their office inflicting more pains on parents, guardian and
students,” they said.
Meanwhile,
the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has appealed to
the Federal Government and ASUU to resolve their differences as soon as
possible to allow the return of academic activities to Nigerian
Universities.
The
NANS Vice President, National Affairs, Ahamed Jibril, on Thursday made
the appeal in a press release to journalists, revealing that the strike
has crumbled academic activities in the Universities.
“We,
the leadership of NANS, are calling on the Federal Government
particularly the Minister of Education, NUC (Nigerian University
Council), ASUU and all parties involved in the ASUU issues to kindly
tackle the issues that have warranted the ongoing ASUU strike as we the
students are at the receiving end,” he said.
According
to the student body, continuous strike by lecturers in Nigeria has
severally disrupted the academic calendar thereby delaying the
graduation of students from various institutions and preventing the
Nigerian student from contributing effectively to the economy.
The
university lecturers commenced an indefinite strike action on Monday
based on the Federal Government’s failure to implement some of the
issues contained in a 2009 agreement with the association. The union
also accused the government of reneging on a Memorandum of
Understanding [MoU] jointly agreed on in December 2011.
On
the constant fracas on campuses that lead to the death of students,
NANS called on its senators (all SUG presidents) to dialogue and apply
other peaceful measures to curb the increasing rate of crisis on
campuses.
“Demonstrations
are not always the best option of addressing student issues; it is to
the best of interest of the students to employ peaceful negotiations
because it’s our campuses and academic works that are always hampered
each time such incidents occur,” the NANS president said.
The
student union leader also appealed to the management of Nigerian
institutions to be more diplomatic in dealing with student issues.
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