By Sade Adewale, Ondo

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An academician, Prof Olowoyele Ademola has said that the future of Nigerian students is compromised due to incessant strikes on the part of ASUU.

Olowoyele who stated this in an interview with The Hope in Ondo, decried a situation where a four years programme runs for seven years due to strikes in the last 23years.

According to him, “to be fair to ASUU, their demand is legitimate. Why should the Federal Government renege on an agreement reached with them earlier? From all indications, the ASUU strike means nothing to this government.

“I think the best way out of this problem is for ASUU to drag the Federal Government before the Nigerian Industrial Court, for proper adjudication,” he added.

Also Speaking, Chief Festus Oladele said “personally I feel the strike is a lost battle. The students are losing, because, no matter when they resume, the teaching and learning will never be effective again; the lecturers are losing because their demands are neither realizable nor reasonable at a time like this, and their brains are dormant and redundant, the country is losing because we will end up churning out half baked graduates that will be inefficient in growing the country.

“ASUU is not dealing with a dead government; ASUU has chosen to be deaf and dumb to the realities of our country today. The demands of 2009 cannot be met with the economy of 2022.

“There is too much loopholes in the University pay system. It should accept the IPPIS first then deal with the problems of those not captured there in later. After all, government is their employer and decides what works for her in that regard,” he stressed.

According to him, “what does ASUU bring to the table? As much as they are paid, how many of them have researched and developed a watertight pay system that will capture all their staff without being compromised and present to the government? How much developmental researches have they done to grow the country that pays them? Do they truly have the interest of the students at heart or their personal interests?

“The way out is to accept the IPPIS and complain later of those not captured; meet government half way on their financial demands since the economy of today cannot capture their agreements of 2009; ASUU should use their internally generated funds to build, equip and maintain their institutions.

“We have seen that the only persons whose strikes move the government are doctors and aviation. So, strikes generally are begining to lose their potency with the realities on ground.

On their part, the government is good at reneging on agreements. They always prioritize projects that will feed their pockets and their cronies first. They do not feel the pains and the loses of the common man because they do not wear our shoes.

“Their children are not here; they are not spending their personal funds for their upkeep. They are generally insensitive to our plight, but I believe that if the country had the ability to handle these demands, the people, the masses would have risen up against the government and stood on the side of ASUU,” Oladele noted.