HOUSE of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal yesterday said if there is a need to make extra budgetary provisions for the Federal Government to resolve the lingering face-off between it and the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities ASUU), the House would do so.<\/p>\n
The Speaker spoke in Abuja when he received a briefing on the ASUU strike from the Aminu Suleiman-led House Committee on Education.<\/p>\n
He called for a speedy resolution of the face-off between both sides, which have led to the closure of government-owned universities for nearly four months.<\/p>\n
The House mandated the Education committee to investigate the face-off by highlighting the areas of conflict and proffer solutions.<\/p>\n
Tambuwal urged the warring parties to consider the interest of the students and the educational future of the nation.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cLet me use this opportunity to appeal to both the Executive arm and the authorities of ASUU to quickly resolve the problem. If there is need for any appropriation, the House will expeditiously assent to it in the interest of our students and the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ondo State Police Command yesterday dispersed the peaceful rally staged by the Federal University of Technology, Akure, branch of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU) Akungba-Akoko.<\/p>\n
The police frustrated the planned rally in Akure, the Ondo State capital.<\/p>\n
They moved their officers and men to the entrance of the institution and blocked the protesters from moving out for the protest.<\/p>\n
The protesters, chanting various solidarity songs, carried placards with various inscriptions, such as \u201cSound universities yield national development\u201d; \u201cOkojo-Iweala, ask your dad about ASUU struggle\u201d; \u201cASUU says no to destruction of public universities\u201d; \u201cAgreement is agreement, so FG should do the right thing\u201d, among others.<\/p>\n
Addressing reporters on the police action, the ASUU-FUTA branch Chairman, Dr Alex Odiyi, wondered why the police prevented the union\u2019s members from holding the protest.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe wonder why the police are doing this to us. We want to go to the town to inform the public about the true state of things. That is our intention. Now, they are saying we should not go. This is very unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the AAU, Akungba-Akoko, the university teachers were disallowed from staging their peaceful protest.<\/p>\n
Police spokesman Wole Ogodo said the police prevented the protesters so that the protest would not be hijacked by the hoodlums.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have information that some hoodlums wanted to attack the lecturers. We don\u2019t want that to happen, because it can cause another crisis in the town. That is why we stopped the protest from going beyond their campus,\u201d Ogodo said.<\/p>\n
The University of Benin (UNIBEN) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday held a road show and protest through major streets of Benin, the Edo State capital.<\/p>\n
The protesters wore academic gowns and carried placards with various inscriptions.<\/p>\n
They accused the government of plotting to sell the universities and embarking on what they called an \u201coffensive propaganda\u201d.<\/p>\n
The UNIBEN-ASUU chairman Dr Anthony Monye-Emina said the allowance allegedly released by the government was not their priority.<\/p>\n
He said university lecturers were interested in the funding of \u201cinfrastructure, science laboratory, workshops and others\u201d.<\/p>\n
Monye said the government did not behave with honour because President Goodluck Jonathan chaired the fundraising of a private university at a time public universities were on strike.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThis government is shameless and has no honour. Tutors have been on strike since July 1 to press home their 2009 agreement with the federal government. We are not making fresh demands. The 2009 agreement recommended N1.6 trillion to cater for education and this ought to be provided at the rate of N400 billion within a period of four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government keeps saying no money to fund education. Yet, it bailed out banks, aviation and even Nollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former ASUU President Dr Festus Iyayi said the government could not say there was no money.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe president of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, last July, indicated that the amount of money stolen by Nigerians was over $600 billion. If you piled up that money, it would get to the moon seven times and back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HOUSE of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal yesterday said if there is a need to make extra budgetary provisions for the Federal Government to resolve the lingering face-off between it and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n