Federal government has appealed to the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) to plead with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its ongoing strike.
The secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made the appeal yesterday when he opened the 2022 first quarterly meeting of NIREC with the theme: “Education for Peace and Nation Building.”
The 50-member NIREC, under the co-chairmanship of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr Samson Ayokunle, previously engaged ASUU to avert the strike, but the union went ahead to down tools.
Represented by the permanent secretary, General Services Office, Maurice Mbaeri, the SGF lamented the situation where children are still at home because of the ASUU strike.
He said, “Let me use this opportunity to tell the leadership of NIREC, who have been able to meet twice with ASUU leaders and has also met with Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the impasse. I want to charge the leadership of NIREC to continue in this part to appeal to ASUU to call off the strike in the interest of the country. The education of our children is very vital. We need to continue to teach them to have a sound and healthy mind so that they can stay away from violence.”
The SGF said the federal government would continue to support the traditional leaders to promote peace.
CAN president, Ayokunle faulted ASUU for negating the initial intervention from NIREC and embarking on the strike.
“We met ASUU, instead of them to be patient with us, they went and embark on strike.
To me, that was respectful enough. For how long shall we continue to allow the impasse between ASUU and the government to continue? How can they be playing with the future of our students like this?
“Government cannot also make us believe that they don’t have the money. It was at that time when they were saying there was no money that the government went to donate over $1 million to Afghanistan,” he said.
He lamented the insecurity in the country, charging leaders not to sit down and think all is well.
On his part, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar urged leaders to always speak against violence and other vices in the society. “We have serious problems in Nigeria and as religious leaders we are concerned about the happenings in the country.”
The executive secretary of NIREC, Rev Fr. Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua, said to produce a healthy society, hope for the future must be assured through a functional system of education.
“The citizens of any nation deserve an ideal society and environment. It is those who do not have access to credible human formation that resort to use of force and power instead of creative relationships,” he said.
