Students threaten to shut private varsities over ASUU strike

Ado Ekiti — UNIVERSITY students under the umbrella of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, yesterday, took to the streets in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, calling on the Federal Government to accede to the demands of the Academic Staff Union ofUniversities, ASUU.

They equally threatened to shut down activities in the private universities in the country should the crisislinger on.

The students who displayed several placards with various inscriptions, lambasted the Federal Government for its failure to honour

ASUU since 2009.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Asafon Sunday, Director of Action and Nigerian the 2011 between 2000 and NANS, South–West, claimed Mobilisation

government earned about N48.48 trillion from the sale of oil alone, against N3.10 trillion earned between 1979 and 1999

He said the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in 2012 financial year alone generated N5.12 trillion from taxpaid bythe masses.

Accordingto him:“With thistremendousupswingin the revenue at the disposalofthe Nigerian government, one would have expected such to translate to commensurate improvement in the quality of Nigeria’s public education as well as other social services.”

He condemned the refusal of Federal Government to budget a reasonable amount of money to education sector as recommended by UNESCO which is 26 per cent of the country’s total budget.

Sunday noted that some countries with smaller Gross Domestic Product, GDP, like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco and Botswana had budgetary allocations to education sector as follow, 31 per cent,20 per cent,23 per cent ,17.7 per cent and 19

budgeted for

per cent respectively to 8.5 per cent that Nigeria government had

education in 2013.

Also speaking, Steven Adara ,a student leader from Ekiti State University, EKSU , lamented thatgovernment officialsand prominent Nigerians were not bothered about the crisis in the public universities because their children were in private schools overseas.

According to him: “We will mobilise and disrupt academic activities in the private universities because it isthesonsand daughtersoftherich that arein these schools.”