ASUU strike: ABU Zaria lecturers embark on peaceful protest

Members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), Ahmadu Bello
University (ABU), Zaria branch, on
Thursday, embarked on a peaceful
protest to enlighten the public on the
ongoing university lecturers strike. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that the ASUU members trekked
about two kilometres in Zaria as part of
the protest. Addressing journalists after the trek, the
Chairman of ABU Zaria branch of the
union, Dr Mohammed Kabir-Aliyu, said
the essence of the protest trek was to
enlighten the public on the demands of
the lecturers. He said “we are on strike because our
universities are dying. We want our
universities revitalised. We are not on
strike because of allowances or salaries. “Our intention is to
revitalise our
universities to compete with other
universities in the world.’’ The chairman said “lecturers are on
strike to rekindle the hopes of children
from indigent backgrounds by making
the system work as it should. “Our students know that the system is
not working the way it should because
the facilities that will make it work are
just not there.’’ On Federal Government’s stand that it
had no sufficient funds to cater for the
demands of ASUU, Kabir-Aliyu said “what
the union is asking for is negligible.’’ He appealed to the Federal Government
to endeavour to address the lecturers’
demands to save the nation’s education
from total collapse. Some students of the institution
participated in the protest. (NAN)