A former Attorney-General of Imo, Chukwuma Ma-Chukwu Ume, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 governors to expedite actions and bring an end to the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

In a 12-page letter dated June 7 and made available to journalists on Tuesday, Mr Ume urged the federal government to address the protracted industrial action immediately.

He lamented that the perennial ASUU strike is making a caricature of Nigeria’s future leaders.

“If we shy away from this, generations will ask if we were not there and what did we do?

“By Chapter 4, Clause 4.1 of the January 2009 Agreement between ASUU and Federal Government of Nigeria, the government set aside the total sum of N1.5 trillion to be paid in three trenches spread across three years (2009, 2010 and 2011).

“Government has, however, maintained that it is impossible for it to raise that sum,” he said.

The lawyer, who addressed the letter to the federal government, also copied the National Assembly, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Minister of Education, his Labour counterpart and other stakeholders.

Mr Ume said to solve the problem head-on, there was the need to reintroduce the 2009 National Interest Education Bill drafted by the Victims of Persecution.

The Victims of Prosecution, a nonprofit organisation, had in 2009 drafted a National Interest Education Bill, which mandates that any person wishing to assume political office in Nigeria must ensure that their children and spouses would not be attending any foreign academic Institution and would do so as long as he remains in office.

(NAN)