NANS threaten to shut down private Universities over ASUU Strike

NANS threatens to shut down
private varsities over ASUU
strike
The National Association of
Nigerian Students (NANS)
yesterday, protested in Ado Ekiti,
Ekiti State capital, and threatened
to shut down activities in the
private universities in the country if
the Federal Government failed to
comply with the demands of the
Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) and the strike
lingered.
The students who displayed several
placards with various inscriptions,
lambasted the Federal Government
for its failure to honour the
agreement it entered into with
ASUU since 2009.
Speaking on behalf of his
colleagues, Asafon Sunday,
Director of Action and Mobilisation
NANS, South–West, claimed
between 2000 and 2011 the
Nigerian government earned about
N48.48 trillion from the sale of
oil alone, against N3.10 trillion
earned between 1979 and 1999
He said the Federal Inland Revenue
Service, FIRS, in 2012 financial
year alone generated N5.12
trillion from tax paid by the
masses.
According to him: "With this
tremendous upswing in the revenue
at the disposal of the Nigerian
government, one would have
expected such to translate to
commensurate improvement in the
quality of Nigeria's public education
as well as other social services."
He condemned the refusal of
Federal Government to budget a
reasonable amount of money to
education sector as recommended
by UNESCO which is 26 per cent
of the country's total budget.
Sunday noted that some countries
with smaller Gross Domestic
Product, GDP, like Ghana, Cote
d'Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco and
Botswana had budgetary allocations
to education sector as follow, 31
per cent,20 per cent,23 per
cent ,17.7 per cent and 19 per
cent respectively to 8.5 per cent
that Nigeria government had
budgeted for education in 2013.
Also speaking, Steven Adara ,a
student leader from Ekiti State
University, EKSU , lamented that
government officials and prominent
Nigerians were not bothered about
the crisis in the public universities
because their children were in
private schools overseas.
According to him: "We will
mobilise and disrupt academic
activities in the private universities
because it is the sons and
daughters of the rich that are in
these schools