The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has advised the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, to resign and go into farming, saying he knew nothing about education matters.
Chairman of ASUU, University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, gave the advice on Tuesday in response to Nwajiuba’s criticism of the union’s continued strike action.
ASUU has been on strike since March 23, and has insisted that it would not return to the classroom even with the Federal Government’s directive for tertiary institutions to reopen next week, after six months of closure following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The lecturers are demanding that the Federal Government should implement its agreements with them while protesting against the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Speaking via a statement in Ibadan, Prof. Akinwole noted that the minister’s criticism showed that he was naïve on education matters.
The minister, in an interview on Monday, had said the lecturers should resort to farming, pointing out that they can not dictate to their employers, how they should be paid.
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He had said, “Government is actually not holding anyone to ransom. It says ‘this is how I want to pay and it has to be through IPPIS.’ You can leave the employment. You can opt out of it and say ‘I no longer want to teach’. You can find other professions. What we need now are probably more farmers.”
However, Akinwole taking exception to the minister’s position, said his comments were a reflection of his shallow understanding of the academic profession and the low premium the current administration placed on education.
He observed: “If the Minister of State for Education is interested in farming, he should resign his appointment and stop displaying his cluelessness of the problems in the education sector.
“We are on a just fight to ensure that those in public offices become responsive and responsible to the masses they swore to serve. They must fund public education. We have been on the same salary since 2009. That is no longer sustainable.
“The universities are being run with personal sweat of lecturers while politicians siphon money for personal aggrandizement. We cannot accept the IPPIS that is against the laws of the land and which fails to recognise the uniqueness of academic profession and culture.
“We have brought an alternative using our members’ money. People like this minister of state mirror the disdain of ruling class for the workers and people of the country.”
