Gentlemen
you are welcome. We are briefing you today about our decision to embark on 6am to
6pm hunger strike which took effect from 6am today and will end tomorrow.
We
are protesting the 4 months old strike action by ASUU and the non- challant
attitude of the federal government to do the needful to enable public
universities to re-open for normal academic activities to resume. We view the
prolonged strike as a conspiracy by the elites against the commoners and the
poor since 90 percent of the students affected by this shameful industrial
action are children of the very poor of the Nigeria society. Children of the
rich and the political elites are either schooling in some of the best schools
in Europe and the USA or if at all are they are in Nigeria school system they
are usually enrolled in the few highly expensive private universities whereby
their parents pay these obscene school fees using financial resources drawn
from the public treasury which they are in custody of as political office
holders.
Secondly,
the closure of these public universities is a total negation of Nigeria’s
international obligations in line with the Universal Declarations of Human
Rights Articles 26 which states thus; “everyone has the right to education.
Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary
education shall be compulsory, Technical and Professional education shall be
made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to
all on the basis of merit.
Article
26(2) importantly stressed that; “education shall be directed to the full
development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding,
tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and
shall further the activities of the UN for maintenance of peace.
The
continuous closure of public universities is a total breach of the right to
development and by so doing will deny the Nigerian Youth of their inalienable
rights to enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development.
Denial
of education as is being perpetrated through the closure of public universities
and other educational institutions amounts to a crime against humanity since it
is a direct abuse of all the choicest rights enshrined in chapter four of the
Nigerian Constitution.
We
hereby call on government to take lawful measures to reopen the public
universities even as we urge ASUU to go back to school for the sake of our
children.
We
acknowledge that it is a serious crime to breach an agreement and we hereby
advise that both ASUU and FG should separately constitute legal teams to take
position on what legal measures to be adopted to compel government to comply.
ASUU may institute legal challenge to question government’s violation of the
contract signed since 2009 even as the public universities must be reopened and
academic activities commenced while the legal questions are being tackled at
appropriate industrial and/or court of competent jurisdiction on its part, FG
must adequately fund the educational sector optimally by cutting down on high cost
of governance and by adopting the Steve Oronsanye’s report to reduce the number
of agencies that do some jobs at exorbitant cost to the Nigerian people.
This
is only the first phase of our civil disobedience activity as we will proceed
to the next stage if after 14 days the strike is not called off.
*
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko; National Coordinator.
22/10/2013
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