Strike: Stakeholders bowing to B’Haram’s wishes – Vice Chancellors
By Grace Edema and Deborah Tolu-Kolawole
The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities has said stakeholders in the education sector across the country are succumbing to the missions of the terrorist organization, Boko Haram, for not resolving the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, the chairman of CVCNU, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, explained that the government and all concerned stakeholders, including the presidency, past governments, governors’ forum, and parents had not shown commitment toward education and the demands of ASUU.
This, he stated, was proof that the country was succumbing to the mission of Boko Haram, saying Boko Haram means ‘Western education is forbidden.’
ASUU announced a total and indefinite strike on August 29, 2022, over its unmet demands by the Federal Government.
Edoumiekumo said, “For me, stakeholders in this country are succumbing to Boko Haram because Boko Haram means ‘we don’t want western education.
“If we continue like this, it means Boko Haram has won the war. Their own is ‘we don’t want to go to school; we don’t want to go to university.’ Instead of the government prioritizing education so that we can win the war against Boko Haram, we are succumbing to that. I am pleading as the chairman of CVCNU, the work is on my head, let all stakeholders put their hands on the deck to support education in Nigeria.
“With what is happening over the ASUU strike, we are succumbing to Boko Haram, let us not succumb to Boko Haram but work on our education challenges.”
He also advised the government and all stakeholders in the education sector, to as a matter of urgency, resolve the ongoing ASUU strike, adding that no nation, leader, would rise above its intellectual prowess.
©The PUNCH
