ASUU Strike: UI Students’ Union Writes Open Letter To Buhari, Appeals To End Strike

The Students’ Union of the University of Ibadan, under the leadership of Adewole Yinka, has written an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari appealing for an end to the ongoing Academic Staff University Union (ASUU) strike.

In the letter, the Union highlighted the effects of incessant strikes on students and the negligence of the Federal Government towards education.

It reads in part: “As a result of frequent strikes, the expectations, dreams and aspirations of students have been unsettled. Spending more time than the statutory duration in school has implications for employment patterns, where age is an important consideration for entry-level jobs. 

“Many citizens have lost hope in the Nigerian education system. Parents who can afford it send their wards to universities overseas. Those less endowed, register their wards in privately owned universities in the country.”

The UI Students’ Union has made five demands from the President which are; resuscitation of the university system, adoption of the UNESCO recommendation on funding education, the agreement between ASUU and FG be honoured, TETFUND is headed by a member of the academia and the FG meets all public school Students Union Presidents.

Recall that ASUU embarked on a one-month warning strike on February 14 and later rolled this over into another two months.

ASUU’s demands from the federal government include funding for the Revitalisation of Public Universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears. 

Failure of the federal government to meet their demands within the rolled-over two month period (which expired May 8) resulted in the extension of the strike by another 12 weeks.