ASUU to hold education conference in Jul

The ASUU President stated this in Ibadan

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, will organise national education conference in July to address the problems facing the nation’s education system, its National President, Nasir Fagge, has said.

Mr. Fagge made this known in Ibadan on Thursday at a symposium with the theme: “ASUU 2013 Strike and the Lessons’’, organised by the Education Right Campaign, ERC.

He said that presentations at the conference would be forwarded to the National Assembly to form part of national policy on education.

M. Fagge said that the first challenge confronting Nigeria’s education system was the 1999 Constitution, which he said, was not people- oriented and needed to be changed.

“Our constitution is not people-oriented. We must jettison it. A law that protects a leader who steals public fund is definitely not people- oriented,’’ he said.

He said that the fundamental right in the constitution did not make education the right of Nigerians.

“We must have a right to quality education,” he said.

Recounting the lessons learnt from the strike, which paralysed academic activities in Nigerian Universities for six months, Fagge said the call to proceed on the strike was a difficult decision for the union.

He said that the strike was an `eye opener’ for the union, adding that it helped to expose the deplorable state of higher education in the country.

“The strike was beyond payment of salaries of universities lecturers, it was meant to pressurize the government to address the rot in the nation’s education system.

“If we did not withdraw our services, we would continue to turnout half-baked students who at best are quarter to best.

“I, however, believe that if I do what is just, posterity will judge me,” he said.

The ASUU president assured that the union had put in place appropriate machinery to ensure that the N200 billion released to public universities by the government was utilised for the intended purposes.

(NAN)