Parents in the country have knocked the striking public university teachers for extending their six months old industrial action by another four weeks from Monday, saying the action is grossly unpatriotic.
A cross-section of them including the National President of Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NPTAN), Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, as well as the Deputy Vice President, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, on Monday, condemned the extension when Tribune Online sought their reactions to the development.
They said it was not only the Federal Government they could not trust again but also the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
They said ASUU had no moral justification to continue with the strike after shutting down the activities in the universities for the past six months if they genuinely have the interest of their students and their parents at heart.
Danjuma said even though government ought to have reached conclusion with ASUU over their lingering crisis before now, ASUU on its side suppose not to insist on getting all its demands met by the government before going back to class.
He said both students and parents had lost hope in both the Federal Government and ASUU as nobody according to him could say categorically at the moment when exactly the students would go back to class.
He said severe damage had already been done not only to the education sector but the country’s economy at large by keeping students away from studies for this long and now to further keep them idle at home may cause irredeemable damage to society.
He said ASUU should listen to appeals by parents and other stakeholders to call off the strike unconditionally so that normalcy could return to campuses.
In his reaction, Chief Ogunbanjo said ASUU ought to have listened to the voice of reasoning from good people of Nigerians, especially parents and students and shifted grounds on its demands in the interest of the public.
He said even for the first instance, ASUU supposed not to dictate to its employers on particular salaries to be paid and on which platform let alone holding government to ransom as it is doing.
He said ASUU members are on continuous rolling over strike because many of them according to him don’t have children in public universities and also doing part-time teaching in private universities.
He said as it is now, both parents and students are doubtful of ASUU acclaimed sincerity to be fighting for public interest.
He said it was totally unacceptable that ASUU does not concern about their students, many of whom he said had taken to vices due to idleness.
He, therefore, urged both ASUU and the Federal Government to without further delay reach a compromise on their differences and allow students to return to class.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyers