ASUU, FG and the shifting blame game

The two parties at loggerheads failed to put smiles on the gloomy faces of Nigerian students as the shifting blame game continues.

Even after waiting anxiously for something positive to come out in the series of meetings held between the federal government representatives and ASUU within the one-month warning strike embarked upon by the union, none among the elephants fighting seems to be  concerned about the helpless and now hopeless Nigerian students.

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The lingering crisis has been disrupting academic activities every year and the government seems to be doing little or nothing in bringing an end to it. Indeed we are reaping the catastrophic consequences of electing leaders with little or no clue on the impact of education on nation-building and national development. 

Why should the political office holders bother when their sons and daughters are studying abroad?  Their major concern now is the upcoming APC national convention; not the ASUU strike, fuel scarcity, or the insecurity bedeviling the country.

ASUU on the other side has failed to follow the right process in dealing with the government.  Both sides must admit that shifting blame and accusations doesn’t yield any positive result.

If the government believes that those young people struggling to study are the future of the country and knows the implications of having uneducated citizens, they should urgently find a lasting solution to this lingering crisis. 

The striking lecturers should also look at the exigencies and the state of the country’s economy in considering the offer given to them. For the students, we should exercise more patience and not go for yet another protest because nobody is there to listen to us. We are always at the receiving end.

Mubarak Shuaybu Shelleng, Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri