A political support group, PDP New Generation, has blasted the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, for urging parents to beg the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the class.
This is even as the group described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a political party without empathy for Nigerians.
The youth group within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spoke in a statement sent to journalists in Abuja on Saturday in reaction to Keyamo’s comment on the ongoing ASUU strike.
Keyamo, who also doubles as the interim spokesman of the 2023 APC Presidential Campaign, had advised Nigerian parents to beg the striking University teachers to call off their strike.
The Minister, who spoke on Friday night on Channels TV political and current affairs programme, ‘Politics Today’, added that the federal government had no money to meet ASUU demands.
But, reacting to Keyamo’s stand, the Director-General of the PDP New Generation, Audu Mahmood, in the group’s press release, said: ”The unfortunate comments by Keyamo who is also the spokesman of the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation shows that the ruling party has no empathy.
”It was indeed painful to listen to the minister defend the action of this failed government after students in Nigeria have spent six months at home. Keyamo’s comments suggest that the Buhari-led government is not interested in what happens to our universities.
”Nigerians, especially University students on strike and their parents must take note of the insensitivity that has become the hallmark of the APC administration. Empathy is a construct that is fundamental to leadership, but with the APC, we have seen a government that is not interested in the feelings of the people.
”We call on Nigerians to use their PVCs to respond to the APC’s wickedness by voting them out in the 2023 general elections.
”More alarming is Keyamo’s comments that the APC presidential flagbearer, Bola Tinubu, will preside over Nigeria like the outgoing disastrous government of President Buhari. We urge Nigerians to resist this kind of backward leadership with their votes in February 2023.
”To say the Buhari-led administration is the worse Nigeria has ever witnessed is to put it mildly. We cannot afford another four years of misgovernance that has shaken Nigeria to its foundations.”
Mahmood urged Nigerians to vote for Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, adding that his passion for education was unrivalled.
He added: ”Atiku in partnership with some public-spirited individuals offered full scholarships to 15 out of the girls abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.
”He has been consistent in his investment in education and has not waivered in his continuous advocacy for governments at all levels to prioritizs the educational sector.
”We assure Nigerians that if he is voted into power in 2023, the consistent ASUU strike witnessed under the APC government will be a thing of the past.
”We empathise with those affected by the ASUU strike but we assure them that through deliberate and progressive policies in the educational sector, Atiku will make sure parents, students and indeed, the lecturers are happy.”
