The national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Biodun Ogunyemi, has said the security challenges faced by universities and the society at large could only be surmounted when injustice and mass poverty are speedily tacked by the government.

Mr Ogunyemi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that it was necessary to bring violent crimes to an end in the country.

Ending insecurity, he said, required commitment and sincerity on the part of the government.

“It is the duty of the government to secure the life and property of the citizenry; the government has to do this with commitment.

“It is difficult to wipe out the traces of criminality in a society that is plagued by feelings of injustice, mass poverty and unemployment,” he said.

A number of higher institutions particularly in the North has suffered mass abductions from bandits in the past few weeks.

In Kaduna, scores of students have been kidnapped for ransom at Greenfield University and College of Farm Mechanisation.

A students of the Plateau State University was also abducted and later released in May.Students of Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State were also reportedly abducted.

The ASUU president said that it was wrong to give money to criminals for whatever reason, as “ it is a kind of encouragement to indulge in crime.”

He commended moves by the Senate to enact a law banning the payment and receiving of ransom.

“This is a step in the right direction,” Mr Ogunyemi said.

(NAN)