CDHR Draws Battle Line With Federal Government Over Lingering ASUU Strike

<h4>CDHR Draws Battle Line With Federal Government Over Lingering ASUU Strike<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights&comma; CDHR&comma; has raised concerns over the lingering issues raised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities&comma; ASUU&comma;  and urged the federal government to put an end to their action without unnecessary delay&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A communiqué signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the committee&comma; Comrade Idris Afees Olayinka&comma; made available to National Association of Online Security Reporters in Lagos&comma; reads&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The incessant shutting down of Nigerian University System is not only killing the nation&&num;8217&semi;s education quality and standard but also crippling the nation&&num;8217&semi;s growth and development&period; It is no more news that the Academic Staff Union of Universities poised in raising the standard of nation&&num;8217&semi;s education and making it a reference point&comma; engaged the federal government of Nigeria through incessant and perennial industrial actions to press home the union&&num;8217&semi;s demands&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The ASUU&&num;8217&semi;s protracted industrial actions cripple not only the education system of the country but different sectors of the economy with great consequences on the larger society&period; These industrial actions on many occasions lead to students losing interest in program continuation&comma; lack of interest in Nigeria education system&comma; poor academic performance&comma; unstable academic calendar&comma; unnecessary time extension&comma; more cost on the part of students and parents among others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Inline with the above&comma; the Committee for the Defence of Human frowns at the government insensitivity to the ASUU&&num;8217&semi;s demand over the years&period; It is therefore imperative for the federal government of Nigeria as a matter of urgency to address the lingering issues raised by the union and put an end to their action&period; All agreements and recommendations since 2009 and beyond must be respected and implemented&period; Additionally&comma; UNESCO recommendation of 26&percnt; annual budgetary allocation to Education should be considered without further delay&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CDHR warned the federal government if no critical step is taken towards addressing the issue&period; CDHR said that they will have no option but to mobilize mass actions against the federal government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The committee emphasized that the action is not to destabilize the political system but to put the government on its toes to address the agitations of the union&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the same vein&comma; CDHR condemned the continued disruption of academic calendar in government institutions and the apathetic attitude of political office holders&comma; who are busy buying nomination forms at N100&comma; 000&comma;000 while the nation&&num;8217&semi;s education sector and the economy at large gasping for breath&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Federal Ministry of Education&comma; National University Commission&comma; Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity and other stakeholders in Nigerian Education sector should put heads together to resolved these lingering crisis as well as preventing it&&num;8217&semi;s future occurrence&period; The cause ASUU champions is a patriotic one&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The federal government should expect mass actions from coalition of rights groups&comma; labour unions and other NGOs in the event it fails to address permanently the perennial ASUU crisis&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;