ASUU President Disappointed by Keyamo’s Comments on University Strike

The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, has expressed his disappointment over a recent comment made by Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labour and employment, regarding the union’s ongoing strike.

In an interview with Channels TV on August 5, Keyamo urged parents to appeal to the varsity lecturers to end their strike. He also emphasized that the federal government will not be coerced by ASUU to borrow N1.2 trillion to meet their demands.

In response to Keyamo’s comment in an interview on Monday August 8, Osodeke described it as disappointing. He questioned whether Keyamo would allow his children to attend a Nigerian school and highlighted that the Minister had been involved in street activism before joining partisan politics.

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Osodeke expressed the union’s broader concerns, stating:

“For us as a union, we are not talking about ASUU. We are talking about the Nigerian university system that has virtually collapsed to the extent that students from all over the world do not come to Nigerian universities, and international lecturers are not teaching here. Meanwhile, Nigerian lecturers and students are leaving the country in large numbers. That is the reason for the strike. It is not just about our welfare; it is about the entire system.

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“Are we proud of this system? Will Keyamo, who made that statement, allow his children to attend Nigerian universities? That was the comical thing I observed when he was speaking, and what disappointed me is that he was one of the street activists before joining partisan politics.”