ASUU rejects funding from parents
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the funding offer made by parents in an attempt aimed at bringing the lingering faceoff with the federal government to an end.
The National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) had sought an audience with the federal government over the lingering strike by ASUU, The Punch reported on Wednesday. NAPTAN had proposed the payment of a N10,000 levy per session by each parent to increase the funds available to Nigerian universities. NAPTAN’s Public Relations Officer, Dr. Ademola Ekundayo, who suggested that the intervention may be tagged “parent support levy”, said the payment would be made directly to the schools.
While NAPTAN lamented that parents and students are at the receiving end of the faceoff between ASUU and the FG, ASUU insists that the government must be compelled to perform its duties, which includes using “Nigerians’ money to fund education as it is done in other countries”. Speaking on Arise Television on Thursday, ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the parents’ intervention should be in joining the union to mount pressure on the federal government to live up to its responsibilities.
The union’s president, in emphasizing his position, lamented how Nigerian students have been forced to look to places like Ghana, Benin Republic, and Togo to study. “We can’t be calling ourselves the giant of Africa and we are the worst in education. So, they [parents] should add to the pressure coming from ASUU to ensure that the government prioritises education. That is more important than the N10,000”, Osodeke said.
