The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday lamented that Nigerian youths are increasingly losing hope in the country and are revolting with drugs and crime.
It asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to destroy Nigeria’s future by failing to invest in the education sector.ASUU said all development plans being conceived for the country would fail if Nigerian children were not carried along in such development plans.
Chairman of ASUU at the University of Ibadan (UI), Dr. Deji Omole, said it should be clear to Nigerians that more than ever before, the nation’s youths were revolting against the state with rising crime.
He argued that the youths, who government failed to build through qualitative investment in education and nurtured with right values, would end up selling the infrastructure being built at their expense.
ASUU had embarked on strike since November 5, 2018 to pressure government to implement previous agreements with the union but have succeeded in its struggle.Omole said if previous leaders were wicked as the present crop of leaders, the little education, which President Buhari is using to rule Nigeria, would have been denied him.
He said it was shameful that no public university in the country could boast of 21st century laboratory and learning materials.“We are entering 2019 on a sad note that our future is neglected for pecuniary gains of gerontocrats in government. They want to build infrastructure without investing in human capital that will run and use them.
“That is failure from the start. President Buhari should give Nigerian youths a future by showing concern for education. If only present Nigerian students are exposed to the little he learnt as student, we would not be on strike.
“It is their generation that enjoyed the best quality of education and it is their generation that is destroying it. The youths are becoming alienated and are revolting with drugs and crime. Only a committed investment in public education will salvage the future of Nigeria,” he stated.
-GUARDIAN-
