ASUU Strike : UI Students’ Union Writes Buhari

The Students’ Union of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, has written the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) over the strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. On Monday, ASUU extended the strike by adding another three months due to the inability of the federal government to meet their demands. UI Students’ Union wrote a letter of appeal on Tuesday and titled it “The Federal University System in Shambles; An Appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR’. The letter was signed by the union’s President and General Secretary, Adewole Adeyinka and Bamidele Paul respectively.

The letter read, “Your Excellency, we write to you as a body from Nigeria’s Premier University, the University of Ibadan, which has over 40,000 students. It is pertinent to note that since the inception of ASUU in 1978, the union has embarked on many strike actions, making various demands for the improvement of the university system and the working condition of staff. ASUU has deployed deliberation, negotiation, signing of MoUs, and lobbying, to no avail.”

“Today makes it 85 days since ASUU declared a warning strike on February 14, 2022. Nigerian students have been trapped at home for nearly three months, and going by its inaction, it appears that government is out to frustrate our ambitions and aspirations.”

Furthermore, UI students’ union also expressed their disappointment over the failue of FG to meet ASUU’s demands despite the series of meetings between the two bodies.

The union said further that the Federal Government bailed out banks with a whopping sum of three trillion naira in 2007, 4.6 trillion was expensed on fuel subsidy but it seemed the government considered the educational sector less important to improve and spend on.

The Union, thereby, concluded,”We call on you today as a parent to address the issue in an address to the nation; we appeal that you adopt the UNESCO recommendation on the funding of education; we strongly recommend that all agreements between ASUU and the Federal Government should be honoured; we request that the board of the Tertiary Educational Trust Fund be headed by an academician; we suggest that His Excellency meets with Students Union Presidents of all Federal University for a better understanding of our pressing needs.”

Incase you missed it: ASUU: Strike Action Continues For 12 Weeks