Saturday 19 October 2013

”Return to classrooms”, Jonathan appeals to ASUU

President Goodluck Jonathan on
Saturday in Ado-Ekiti appealed to members of
the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) to return to the classrooms in the
interest of their students. He made the appeal at the inauguration of the
College of Engineering Complex at the Afe
Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti
State. The three-storey college complex was also
named after the President. Jonathan urged ASUU members to heed his
appeal saying that whatever their grievances
might be, keeping students out of school for
four months was unpatriotic. “I once again appeal to the entire membership
of ASUU to pause and ponder on the adverse
effect of their action on the future of the
vibrant youths of this great nation. “The collective destiny of tens of thousands of
tomorrow’s leaders should not be held hostage
to vagaries of labour disputes. “As long as we are humans, as long as we are a
developing society, this labour dispute must
come up. “I always say that even in the developed
societies we hear about labour dispute; and
there is no society, even the most developed,
that has provided the facilities for every
worker. “Our security services, the Police, the Armed
Forces, Navy, Air Force and para-military,
intelligent services are also operating in an
environment that is not the best. “If all of us should go on long strike because
our environment is not at its optimum, then
definitely we can never get the Nigeria of our
dream. “So, let me use this unique opportunity that I
am interfacing with our future leaders, our
students, to plead with ASUU members. “If it is a genuine strike keeping students out
of classrooms for almost four months, by that
they have demonstrated to everybody that
they have a case. “And if the strike is motivated by some other
interests, they have also achieved that by
keeping students out of schools for more than
a semester,” he said. The President emphasised that the freedom of
association and the right of workers to go on
strike should not be abused to harm the
country’s interest. “I believe that labour has the right to go on
strike, but in that strike, any action taken must
be built on patriotic zeal. “In as much as you can go on strike, you must
be patriotic to our country. “No matter how and what you feel about Mr
president and the federal government, I plead
with ASUU that for the sake of our students,
they should resume classes,” he said. President Jonathan assured all that the
government would continue to work with all
Nigerians to build a better country for all and
future generation. He noted that as long government had shown
commitment to improving the qualities of
infrastructure in the universities and the
operating environment, ASUU should
reconsider its stand. Jonathan noted that if students of private
universities could get their degrees within
three and half years as witnessed in ABUAD, “it
is unacceptable that students of public
institutions are kept for extra one or two
years”.

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