Friday 11 October 2013

100 days of ASUU strike.


Kelechi Amakoh, University of Lagos: I wonder how Nigerian university students have spent the last 100 days at home. I can only imagine how the lonely walk has been outside the ivory tower. 100 days of continued pleas. Yet, the government isn’t giving a damn.
The members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities are ever determined to carry on with the strike (I do not blame them because if they back down now, that is all forever.)
Before we proceed into the next 100 days, I believe there should be an event to mark such (I know of a state government that does such).
Accountability is key, you know! There needs to be a review of how every passing day depletes the hope left for a better Nigeria.
The agony of having a project stopped. Ah! What an abandoned project. This needs to be considered.
100 days of quietly dismissing the importance of education to nation building. A stylishly crafted press release by government to diffuse the worth of a certificate.
In a nation that is certificated, maybe this is a ploy to disband that notion.
It could be a strategy to inculcate the belief of success without a certificate.
Nigeria, we hail thee! Government, we thank thee, for scoring another minus. A dent to 2015.
Three things I leave with the Jonathan administration, and the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, especially:
-Realise that no matter the trillions of naira you save for this country, except you invest in the future Nigerians through quality education, Nigeria will continually wobble and fumble.
-The more you keep young and adventurous minds out of their age bracket habitat (Ivory tower), the more you contend with exploded population, robbery, chaotic chaos.
- Have the belief that an educated mind and half-baked mind cannot build a nation. Except you promise never to pass the baton of leadership to your Harvard trained chaps.
Expecting the drums to roll out. Preparing my stomach for the cake. Or is it in tandem with next year’s questionable Centenary?

Punch

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