Education
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities joins a chorus of Nigerians vilifying the All Progressives Congress for the worsening state of the economy and the hardship the masses are going through
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Apr 25, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT |
FOLLOWING the hardship Nigerians are passing through, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has criticised the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, over country’s economic woes. The ASUU accused Buhari and his party of running a change government that is devoid of transformation.
Nasir Isa, ASUU President, told journalists in Abuja, that the symptoms of the prevailing economic crisis are so obvious with its attendant consequences and overall burden on Nigerians. Isa said: “There is no doubt that Nigerians are suffering. There exists a socio-economic crisis in Nigeria. We are all aware of the manifestations of the crisis which our country faces. There are many symptoms of the crisis: rising level of poverty; increasing rate of unemployment; heightened expectation leading to heightened frustration among Nigerians due to the failure to realise and improved their living standard.”
He argued that government’s inability to squarely tackle the present economic hardship has had a ripple effect on the daily lives of the masses, stressing that, food prices are higher and access to health facilities has not improved; life and property remain insecure; in short, Nigerian people are still suffering.
The ASUU president also maintained that so far, since the inception of the administration, the disappointment of Nigerians stems from the fact that the masses have a government whose leadership promised change but which is not practising transformation. “Democracy in Nigeria is still seen superficially as what leaders do for the people rather than government by the people. Democracy is essentially popular participation in governance and popular sovereignty. Yet, there is in existence a long term national development plan agreed on in 2008 (Nigeria’s Vision 20: 2020). This has been abandoned in favour of IMF/World Bank imposed and enforced Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEFF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP,” Isa said.
The body accused the government of pursuing an economic and political ideology that is more embedded in propaganda. “Some of these ideologies are explicitly stated while others are implicit. Sometimes, those who have implicit ideologies claim to have no ideology at all.”
The union also decried the haphazard payment of salaries to its members. According to Muhammed Usman, ASUU Convener, Finance and Investment, since December 2015, ASUU members have continued to face untold hardship due to the distorted nature of salary payment by government. Usman cited University of Ibadan and other first generation universities facing the brunt of haphazard payment of their salaries.
On the Panama papers scandals where some prominent Nigerians were mentioned, ASUU stated that the right thing to do was to investigate the matter and if anybody is culpable, such person should be jailed. “What is the normal thing done to tax evaders? If you catch somebody evading tax, you know what to do. In other countries, if you are caught evading tax, you pay all the taxes that you failed to pay, there are other financial punishments. Apart from that, you also go to jail. No matter how powerful you are, there is no exception. If anybody is involved, I think the right thing should be done,” he said.
ASUU also condemned in strong terms, the on-going fuel crisis, stating that it has created a deep gulf between the government and the people, “the current fuel crisis has adverse consequences on the socio-economic life of the nation; it has increased the cost of food, transportation, electric power as well as general cost of living. It has created political cost. “It has also widened the distance between the government and the people, and created distrust between the people and the government. It has caused general social tension in the land. Government is slow in implementing the policies it pronounced in 2015.”
The academic union lambasted the government over its failed attempt to reposition the power sector, stating that after some years, “the DISCOS have failed to deliver on their promise of free distribution of pre-paid meters. And despite massive protests of workers and other patriotic Nigerians, the DISCOS are forcing the hiked electricity tariff regimes down the throat of the citizens.”
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