By Uzair Adam Imam
ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, urged the National Assembly to formulate a law that will ban government officials from taking their children to study abroad. He added that if one knows his children cannot study here, one should not take government appointments.
Osodeke made the disclosure in Abuja at the reconvene meeting with the federal government, chaired by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.
Daily Trust reported that ASSU also called on the National Assembly to formulate a law that makes it compulsory for the public office holders to send their children to public schools in the country, saying such a step would let the officials know the decay in the public universities.
Speaking, Osodeke stated that, “We hope that the government will make it mandatory that if you accept a government appointment, your children must attend universities in the country.
“The National Assembly must formulate a law that if you take an appointment, your children must study here. If you know that your children cannot be here, don’t take government appointments.
“When you hear those in the government who send their children to schools abroad say that ASUU goes on strike, they should know that strike is not the problem. The problem is the issues afflicting the universities; nobody is interested in tackling them.
“Look at the budget we have seen recently, it is exactly the same thing we have been seeing. Nothing has changed. And this country is paying the high price for neglecting education – the banditry you see, the kidnapping and what have you, is because people are not being taken care of.
“That is why ASUU has been struggling so that Nigerian universities will be revamped so that as our children go outside for learning, other children from other countries will come here too and pay to this country in hard currency.”
