A civil rights organization, Ijaw Monitoring Group, on Thursday challenged Christian and Muslim leaders in the country to speak out against the Federal Government in its face-off with the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
According to the IMG, the Sultan of Sokoto, who is also the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111; the President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oristsejafor; and the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, should not keep quiet, especially when there was a crisis of such magnitude in the education sector.
The Coordinator of IMG, Mr. Joseph Evah, said the silence of the religious leaders was “no longer golden in this instance.”
He said, “I am not happy with the silence of the Sultan of Sokoto, Pastor Adeboye and Oristsejafor in the face-off between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities. They are not interested in the ASUU matter because they all have their universities in which they are milking the poor.
“We expect these respected men of God to behave like ArchBishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. If this on-going ASUU strike happens to be in South Africa, Tutu will march down to the seat of power. But in Nigeria, our men of God won’t do that because they worship money and every government that comes to power.
“We expect these men of God to intervene and ask President Goodluck Jonathan to go and negotiate with ASUU the way he went to the creeks in the Niger Delta and negotiated with the militants.”
Meanwhile, ASUU has maintained that it would not call off the strike until the government implemented the 2009 agreement with it.
The National Treasurer of the union, Dr. Ademola Aremu, and Chairman of the University of Ibadan chapter of ASUU, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, said this at a symposium entitled ‘Education, research and development in Nigeria’ in Ibadan on Thursday.
They said the claim by the government that their demands could not be met because of paucity of funds was deceitful and insincere.
Vice-Chancellor, University of Calabar, Prof. James Epoke, on Thursday urged the government to emulate Ghana by funding the universities with dedication and utmost commitment.
Epoke told journalists in Calabar that funding had always been an issue in the education sector.
According to the vice-chancellor, Ghana is funding her university education with over 31 per cent of its annual budget while Nigeria dedicates only eight per cent of its budget to the sector.
