Buhari Charged To End ASUU Strike

Her Royal Majesty (HRM) Obi Martha Dunkwu has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately meet the demands of striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) so that they can end their seven-month-old strike.

Dunkwu, who is the royal mother of Anioma Nation said the industrial action was doing more harm than good to the country’s educational system.

She made the appeal when she received the Winning Legacy Award from the convener of the Winning Women International, powered by Torchigrace Godspower (First Lady Akwaugo 1 of Wazobia FM) at the Sweet Spirit Hotel Asaba on Sunday in recognition of her achievements in the media, business, leadership and Anioma cultural advancement.

Omu Dunkwu, former member of the Federal Government/Private Sector Committee on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), said it had become imperative to lend her voice to what was happening in our education system where ASUU had remained on strike for over six months.
In her motherly evaluation and analysis, she said federal government should not continue to show disdain to the legitimate demands of ASUU as if education does not matter but settle all agreements reached with them so as to enable them return to the classroom.
Her words, “This dispute should be resolved once and for all. If there was agreement reached earlier in addition to the report submitted by the government’s own committee, then the government is obligated to implement this report.
“The federal government cannot tell us that they don’t have money to pay ASUU to resolve all of these issues. There is money in our country, we shouldn’t deceive ourselves about that. Education should not even be a sector to toy with. We must be careful with what we do, we have more challenges in our hand and should not add pressure on parents and children who are the actual victims of this strike.
“Our most important asset as a country is the people and not even the oil and gas resource that is tearing us apart. On this note, I want to categorically call on the Federal Government to pay ASUU and resolve all the disputes hampering the progress and development of our tertiary education in order for the lecturers to go back to school to teach our children, provide teaching aids, make the school environment conducive for learning so that lecturers can be happy and motivated to teach.”