The Ondo State House of Assembly has lamented the stalemate in negotiations between striking public universities lecturers and the President Muhammadu Buhari regime. 

The Assembly therefore called for the declaration of a ‘state of emergency’ in the nation’s education sector.

This was the resolution of the Assembly following the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has kept the nation’s public universities shut down and students stranded for over six months.

Speaking during plenary, the Speaker of the Ondo Assembly, Bamidele Oleyelogun, lamented that the strike action has kept students at home for a longer period than expected. 

“Apart from the fact that the strike has made the youths lose faith in education, it has given room for some of them to get involved in negative vices that may compromise their future as leaders of tomorrow,” Mr Oleyelogun said.  

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began a nationwide strike on February 14, 2022 over failure of the government to implement past agreements to improve conditions of their service.

Mr Oleyelogun posited that the government and the lecturers should find a common ground while describing education as the bedrock for any nation to develop. 

He said it was disheartening that Buhari’s regime was not taking the education of the youths seriously. 

“A state of emergency should be declared in the sector because no meaningful development can take place when adequate attention is not given to education.

“So, we appealed to the federal government and ASUU to find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis between them in the interest of the country,” the Ondo speaker said.

Mr Oleyelogun’s position was supported by lawmakers of the Assembly through a voice vote at the plenary. 

Messrs Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi and Adeyemi Olayemi said the parliament would continue to mount pressure on Buhari’s regime until the strike is called off by ASUU. 

The government and ASUU are yet to reach a deal despite a series of negotiations and meetings on the lingering strike. A truce meeting on Wednesday between the union and government representatives ended in a deadlock.

On Thursday, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the lecturers were insisting to be paid for the “period of their strike” but the government has declined as a punitive measure for their industrial action.

ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke carpeted the federal government’s  “no work, no pay” rule.

He said: “If they want to do ‘no work no pay,’ we will also do ‘no pay no work’.”

“If they won’t pay the backlog, we won’t teach the backlog. We are not like other workers,” Mr Osodeke added.