ASUU STRIKE : ABU Students Visit Emirs For Intervention
In the ongoing
efforts to end lecturers’ strike, students of the Ahmadu Bello
University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, have visited the Emir of
Katsina and Galadima of Kano.
A week after they visited the Sultan of
Sokoto and Emir of Zazzau in Sokoto and Kaduna states to seek their
intervention in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike,
students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), last Tuesday, took their
campaign to the Emir of Katsina.
Led by Abubakar Aliyu Rafindadi,
president of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), they also visited the
Galadima of Kano to urge the monarchs to prevail on the government and
ASUU to embrace peace.
No fewer than 60 students converged in
front of the SUG secretariat at 7:30am for the mission. By 9am, they
left the secretariat for Katsina to see Alhaji Abdulmumeeni Kabir Usman.
There was a mild drama between the
protesters and security guards at the palace when they arrived in a
convoy at 12:30pm. They were prevented from entering the palace because
the students were singing Aluta songs.
It took the intervention of senior
officials of the palace to douse the tension, and the students were
allowed to see the emir on the ground that they stop singing.
Addressing the Emirate Council, Abubakar
said the students were in the palace to seek the emir’s intervention in
the protracted ASUU strike. He said: “We are here to formally lodge our
complaint against the Federal Government and our lecturers, who are out
to make good future impossible for us and by extension the country.”
Abubakar argued that since education
remained focal point of the government’s Transformation Agenda,
President Goodluck Jonathan should make provision for adequate funding
of sector to improve quality. He said the lecturers’ action was not
helping the already bastardized system, urging ASUU to look for another
means in agitating for its demands. He told the monarch to intervene in
the crisis to save Nigeria’s education from total collapse.
Responding, Alhaji Usman commended the
students for using peaceful means in channeling their grievances. He
said: “This first step you have taken is the right step; you followed
the due process as Islam religion prescribed. Instead of taking to
violence, you all came in peace and harmony and we must hear what you
have to say and show sympathy.”
The emir regretted that the quality of
education remained on a steady decline, saying what is seen in public
institutions today never happened in the past. He noted that there was
emphasis on quality in the past while hostels and classrooms were
conducive for learning. “Today, hostels are not even habitable;
everything is dilapidated. Even though the country faces several
problems, bad education remains the greatest threat to the progress of
any society,” he said.
Alhaji Usman assured the students that
he would channel their grievances to the authority and do follow up. He
told the students to remain peaceful in their demonstration to prevent
hoodlums from hijacking the protest. He said he would do all within his
capacity to ensure that the government and ASUU return to the
negotiation table and resolve the issues.
Abubakar later presented the students’ protest letter to the emir.
The students arrived in Kano at 6:30pm. Their meeting with Galadima of Kano, Alhaji Tijjani Hashim, was brief.
After Abubakar explained the reason for
the vsist, Alhaji Hashim assured the students that he would brief the
Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, about their complaints. He said he
would ensure that a documented copy of the students’ grievances would be
handed over to the Vice President Namadi Sambo, for action.
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