Coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG) and former Publicity Secretary of Ijaw National Congress (INC), Comrade Joseph Evah spoke with some journalists on the failure of the Federal Government to meet demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which have resulted in the incessant closure the nation’s ivory towers. ONYEDIKA AGBEDO was there.
WHAT is your take on the ASUU/Federal Government face-off, which has resulted in the incessant closure of our universities?
It is very simple; right from the Obasanjo era, there have been wicked individuals who are in the corridors of power. They also have interest in private universities where they are making billions of Naira as profits. So, they make sure that they destroy the government universities to enable their private universities prosper. They are the ones manipulating the people in power to frustrate ASUU demands.
It is the same way with our refineries that are not working. The business men who own private refineries abroad with their link men in the Presidency and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) frustrate the working of the refineries in Nigeria in order to flourish their private refineries abroad so that Nigeria will continue to import refined petroleum product every year from them. Throughout the world, it is only Nigeria that imports the commodity they produce and it is now the tradition. So, nobody cares.
What is the implication of all the frequent closure of the universities in the life of our the nation?
People in government don’t care because their children don’t attend public schools. When I go through the demands of ASUU, I thank God that we still have patriotic Nigerians who want to leave this world after their lifetime as great contributors to mankind. They want our universities to compete with the best in the world; they don’t want to compromise standard.
The government cannot tell us that there is no money to support infrastructure and manpower development to equip our universities; we are all seeing the wastages going on in the country. A lawmaker earns more than the salary of five Professors put together in Nigeria. You can see that Nigeria is a mad country. So, those lawmakers will not care if Professors are crying about universities development since all their children are in private universities.
Now this strike is coming at a dangerous time. I mean elections are around the corner and if this strike is not called off before the year runs out, it will affect the Ijaw people’s campaign for the country to give our son a second chance in 2015. This strike can rubbish all the good works President Jonathan has done so far because over 80 per cent of Nigerian parents have their children sitting at home frustrated and some going into crime. It is very dangerous if this strike is not called off now because the President as a former lecturer is still a member of ASUU. So, he should ignore all the manipulations against ASUU to enable us celebrate victory for our children. It is not about ASUU as a group but about our children and the future generation.
But those working with the President are supposed to know that this type of strike around 2015 will cause problem for his re-election campaign and advise him appropriately?
President Jonathan is surrounded by people that will never tell him the bitter truth; they look at his mood and tell him what he wants to hear. And if they know you are coming to tell the president the truth they will use security men to block you. It is the mad advisers that are creating problems for the President all over the place.
In 2008, God used President Jonathan and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan to save my life. I was unconscious for three days in a hospital; I will be ever grateful to them. The President is my friend, so if I see people deceiving him, it pains me.
Look at the way Senator Ewherido died. He was one of the best brains the Urhobo nation has ever produced. He was holding a meeting with some people and experienced heart attack and there was no help. His people were calling a German hospital for help from Nigeria. For God’s sake, why can’t government provide the facilities here and empower the people?
Don’t you think religious leaders in Nigeria should join in begging the Federal Government to do the right thing?
Have you ever heard a top religious leader condemning the Federal government for frustrating ASUU since the problem started with the Obasanjo government? Why will they do that when they are using religion to set-up private universities and make billions of Naira in profit?
The reason Nigeria is not moving forward is because these top religious people invite this wicked political class to their churches and mosques to endorse their wickedness. You cannot see such madness in South Africa or Ghana. This ASUU strike, if it were in South Africa, Desmond Tutu would have mobilised the masses against the Federal Government to accept the ASUU demands. But here, religious leaders like the President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Orisejafor, and the Sultan of Sokoto, who is the head of Muslims, appear on television to tell the people that God’s miracle is on the way for Nigeria. That is how they deceive the country every year since they are living comfortably.
If we were in a sane country, the religious leaders would have stepped into the matter and taken over negotiation with the Federal Government because we are talking about education, which is bedrock of every nation. But they don’t want to offend the Federal Government; they also see the destruction of public education system as the growth of their own church business, which includes private universities that the fees are beyond their poor faithful.
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