Dons Eze
ASUU ACCUSES IMF, WORLD BANK OF WORKING TO DESTROY NIGERIA’S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has lamented what has been described as attempts to sabotage the country’s varsities.
According to the ASUU’s National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, at an event marking the 2024 ASUU’s Heroes Day in Abuja, international bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are working without stop to “destroy Nigeria’s public education system.”
At the event some of the academicians honored included; Prof T. Uzodinma Nwala; Prof Bright Ekuerhare; Prof Oye Oyediran; Mallam Bashir Kurfi; Prof The Name Ikiddeh; Mr S.A. Fadipe; and Prof Sola Olukunle.
Others were Nasir Hussain; Tunde Oduleye; Prof Rasheed Abubakar; Akin Oyebode; Mustapha A. Danesi; A.T. Wins; and Dr Peter Ozo-son.
Speaking at the event, Prof Osodeke claimed that varsities are suffering from suffocating clutches of international bodies such as the World Bank and the IMF.
“Comrades, like in the past, this year’s celebration of our heroes also takes place as we continue the struggle to rescue Nigeria’s public universities from the suffocating clutches of the World Bank and the IMF, whose determination to destroy and bury our public university system has not abated.”
He also lamented that the Union was struggling to see to the renegotiation of the agreement it reached with the government in 2009.
“It is rather lamentable that we are still struggling to compel the renegotiation of our 2009 Agreement with the federal government, twelve years after it should have been concluded, and after four rounds of failed negotiations.”
“It is most disheartening and egregious that despite the several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Action (MoAs), the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement is yet to be renegotiated and finalised,” he said.
Osodeke accused state governments of punishing ASUU members “for fighting for the interests of members and the university system.”
He listed some of the affected varsities as; Kogi State University, Lagos State University, Ebonyi State University, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in their persecution for their principled support and solidarity in the struggle to defend the soul of public university education in Nigeria.
“As part of our Heroes Day celebration, this year, and in line with the NDC decision, the union will be offering PhD grants to some of our members across various public universities in the country.
“The grants, valued at five hundred thousand naira per recipient, will be based on the rigorous assessment of their proposals by experts in their respective disciplines.”
ASUU has been at loggerheads with the Nigerian government, as the union accused the government of lack of commitment to varsity education and funding of varsities.
