ASUU Strike Is Mental Torture For Nigerian Students – Kingsley Moghalu

A Political Economist, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has come out to say that the prolonged strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) actually infringes on the right of youth to education.

Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), recently revealed this via a statement in Awka.

According to him, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that education is a fundamental human right for everyone and Nigeria has had too many ASUU strikes for any meaningful university education system.

He added that the strike has inflicted mental torture on the students and they are presently left to wonder when they will complete their programmes.

His words, “Whereas industrial actions are legitimate, they become dysfunctional when they become protracted.

“Nigeria has had too many ASUU strikes for any meaningful university education system. But, the current strike has simply gone on for too long.

“That the government has allowed the current ASUU strike to continue for many months, by not reaching agreement with the lecturers, is very unfortunate.

“This strike has inflicted mental torture on the universities’ students, who are left to wonder when they will complete their programmes.”

“The country has been under investing in education for years, and is far behind its comparator developing countries and emerging economies in terms of public investment in education.

“For instance, the allocation to education, as a percentage of Nigerian Government’s total expenditures averaged just 7.7 per cent between 2015 and 2020.

“In comparison, South Africa’s budgetary allocation to education was consistently above 18 per cent in the same period, rising above 20 per cent in 2020, according to data by the World Bank.

“This indicates that the government is not giving enough considerations to the major issue in its long history of dispute with ASUU.”