President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Christopher Piwuna, has said that the union is not keeping quiet about the spate of insecurity in the country, of which tertiary institutions have had their fair share, News.ng reports.
Prof. Piwuna, in an interview on African Independent Television (AIT) on Friday, said that the union is making efforts to contribute its quota toward proffering solutions but noted that the government is not giving the body a listening ear.
According to him, the government does not regard the country’s body of intellectuals, adding that despite letters written to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu requesting an audience with him, there has been no response yet.
He said: “We are not keeping quiet. We are picking up the issues. We are talking about them.
“We are preferring solutions, but it would appear to us that government, you know, does not even believe that we have intellectuals in this country. That is the position of past governments, including this government. We have written President Bola Ahmed Tinubu three letters at different times to have audience with him.”
He wondered why the president has refused to grant an audience to the body despite meeting with members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The ASUU leader therefore stated that the members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), who meet with the president on a regular basis, are not better than the Senate of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) or any other university senate in the country.
“If you cannot talk to your intellectuals, tell me who else you. He has seen the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the student body. He has seen them. Buhari saw them about twice or thrice, but they won’t talk to us.
“I’ll tell you something. The Federal Executive Council that President Tinubu presides, that Federal Executive Council (FEC), is not better at all than a senate of a university. Those people that sit around those tables, they are not in any way better than a senate of Uni Abuja or senate of Nasarawa State University.”
He made it known that the university senate comprises individuals of high intellect, adding that it is high time the government started paying attention to them.
“So, it is not as if they know everything. We also don’t know everything, but we are the bastion of intellectuals, of intellectualism. We are the people who have researched these things.
“They need to listen to us. They need to pay attention to what we’re saying, but there is nobody. The only time, the only time the minister of education will call us is when there is a problem,” he added.
Watch the clip:
