In my view, President Muhammadu Buhari’s appeal to ASUU to return to class during his Independence Day speech ‘rhymes’ in the Hausa phraseology and philosophy of: A da keka sannan a hanaka kuka (You beat a child and force him not to cry). This is the height of mugunta (wickedness), as even in the military barracks and parlance murmuring and susurration after punishment are allowed.
University lecturers last received salary in February 2022. This is to say that Buhari’s government, out of mugunta, has deliberately taken cruel decision to starve the academics to death just because the
teachers had embarked on strike to demand for the improvement of their
working environment and welfare.
As if that is not enough, the government has within this period deployed all its propaganda arsenal to malign, castigate and lure the Nigerian public in believing that ASUU is nothing but a conglomeration
of irresponsible rascals, Onochie (2022), that want to bring the government down.
These government apologists and attack dogs, in their futile attempts, also tried hard to convince the Nigerian public, especially university students and their parents, that it is the greed of ASUU, not
government nonchalance towards the education sector, that was responsible for their predicament of staying at home for more than seven months.
Even after the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, the government propagandists and attack dogs continued to sponsor concocted write ups full of lies to portray ASUU as uncompromising, unappeasable and
insatiable.
The foregoing and President Buhari’s appeal on October 1, 2022 “begging” ASUU to go back to class can be aptly situated in the Hausa philosophy and phraseology of a da keka sannan a hana ka kuka. To reciprocate the ‘gesture’ of begging ASUU to go back to class by President Buhari, the President of the union is hereby advised to also present an independence day speech on behalf of all his members to ‘beg’ the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to kindly do the following, since the buck now stops at his executive desk, for the strike to come to an end:
Approve the implementation of agreement reached with the Federal Government’s Professor Brigg’s Committee, especially release of revitalisation fund, deployment of UTAS, payment of the EAA arrears,
new salary that can fairly take academics home and payment of our seven months withheld salaries.
The President has the power to end the strike in less than one hour. Nigeria has more than enough money to meet ASUU’s moderate demands if the alleged looting of our commonwealth is to be considered.
So, ASUU President should ‘beg’ Baba Buhari to kindly call off its strike for us to reunite with our beloved students who we are seriously missing.
- Isa Sa’idu, PhD, is of the Department of Political Science and International Studies, ABU, Zaria.
