By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Academic Frontier Initiative (AFI), a non-partisan organisation, has called on the federal government of Nigeria to urgently meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to enable public universities re-open across the country.
The group mabe the appeal in a statement by its National President and Secretary, Dr. Chinedu Onyeizugbe and Dr. Tochukwu Oguegbe.
It said that the recent youths #EndSARS protests in the country was fuelled by continued closure of universities.
According to the group, “People are looking at these protests as a mere campaign against police brutality but the truth is that it is tilting towards revolution.
“Nigerians are no longer happy the way our leaders are handling issues in this country.
“Look at how the federal government is crippling the public university education. How long will members of ASUU and even non-academic staff continue to embark on strike as a last resort?
“Isn’t time for the government to be responsible and committed for once by honouring the agreements between them and ASUU? Enough is enough, let the federal government address this issue once and for all.”
The group further urged youths to avoid violence in their peaceful protests, while regretting that some hoodlums and miscreants used the opportunity of the protest to unleash mayhem on the public and unlawfully cart away other people’s belongings.
AFI however condemned the hoodlums who took advantage of the peaceful protests by the youths to destroy both individual and government properties.
According to the group, the actions of the hoodlum pose a security threat to people, stressing that it was not in the best interest of anyone.
The group, therefore enjoined security agencies to double efforts in restoring law and order across the country, stressing that there cannot be progress without law and order.
Recall that ASUU embarked on industrial action over eight months following the non-implementation of 2009 Agreement, 2019 Memorandum of Action, Arrears of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), revitalisation funds, among other issues.