SAVE Public Education Group (SPEG) has threatened to mobilise students for a nationwide protest over the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The convener of the civil society organisation, Vivian Bello, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja.
Bello lamented that students in public tertiary institutions have spent 725 days out of school due to the reoccurring ASUU strike during Buhari’s administration.
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She blamed the security situation in the country on the poor condition of the education sector.
“Education is non-negotiable as there is no alternative to it. The insecurity we are experiencing today is traceable to the failure of the education sector.
“We have watched with total awe and abhorrence the near-total collapse of tertiary education in Nigeria.
“Distressing statistics show that ASUU has been on strike for a total of over 725 days, since the beginning of this administration, over issues that bother largely on poor welfare, university autonomy and lack of adequate funding for universities.
“When tallied inversely, this amounts to an entire two and half years’ loss, in the educational lives of innocent Nigerian students in public universities across the country,” she said.
Bello added, “It did not end there. The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, ASUP and COEASU, are also currently on strike on similar issues as ASUU.
“We all can see clearly that this is an all-around collapse of tertiary education in the country.”
While the group called on the government to address the needs of the striking union, the co-convener, Dimeji Macaulay, said they were waiting for the outcome of the meeting between the Federal Government and ASUU before issuing a 14-day ultimatum.
