Parents in Kano have expressed happiness over the Federal Government’s efforts to end of the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and ensure peace in the university education system.
Some of the parents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Wednesday, said that they were delighted about the news on the meeting between the two bodies on Tuesday.
They noted that the meeting renewed the people’s hope that the protracted crisis would soon end.
Malam Mustapha Aliyu, a father of three female undergraduates in Bayero University, Kano, said that he had been under pressure from his parents to marry off his daughters to suitors during the strike.
He recalled that he had some problems in convincing his parents about the need for his daughters to attend the university in the first instance, adding that the lingering strike made his parents to call for his daughters’ marriage once again.
Alhaji Balarabe Abdulkarim, another parent of a 300-level student of Bayero University, also narrated his ordeal, saying that he was really frustrated by the idleness of his child because of the strike.
“I wish I was wealthy enough; I would have taken my son to another country to continue his studies.”
“I know some students who entered foreign universities after him; these persons have concluded their studies and they have since returned home,” he added.
A widow, Hajiya Halima Umar, whose daughter is a 200-level student of Kano State University, Wudil, also said that the prolonged ASUU strike was a harrowing experience for her.
She, however, conceded that she sent her daughter to a vocational school for vocational training during the period.
“It is not easy bringing up a girl child alone, she lost her father when she was in the secondary school but I vowed to fund her education up to the university level.”
“I was a bit relieved when she informed me that the strike might soon end as the Federal Government had agreed to inject more money into the university education system,” she said.
NAN reports that the ASUU strike has persisted for about four months, as many Nigerians have been calling on the association and the Federal Government to resolve all the contentious issues that led to the strike.
