The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday joined their counterparts in other universities in a heated protest on campus against what they described as continued government neglect and broken promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The protest began on the campus roads and ended at the Senate Building, where lecturers, joined by students and other members of the university community expressed anger over the federal government\u2019s handling of issues affecting Nigerian academics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as \u201cA hunger to one, is a hunger to all,\u201d \u201cASUU rejects empty promises,\u201d \u201cRespect collective bargaining, honor the agreement now,\u201d and \u201cStop playing with our future.\u201d They chanted slogans and sang solidarity songs, warning the government not to toy with the future of education in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The protest was energetic as lecturers from different departments including senior professors, marched alongside younger colleagues and students. Many described it not only as a fight for the welfare of lecturers but also a defense of the integrity of Nigeria\u2019s public university system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ASUU leaders at ABU, joined by the Vice Chancellor, condemned what they described as the government\u2019s habit of dishonouring agreements, particularly the 2009 FGN\/ASUU agreement which they said has remained unimplemented for years despite repeated assurances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also rejected President Bola Tinubu\u2019s newly introduced lecturers\u2019 loan fund and asserted that academics need their withheld salaries, overdue salary increases, and other entitlements, not loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis protest is about survival,\u201d a lecturer told FCT News Gazette. \u201cWe are tired of promises that never translate into action. The government must wake up to its responsibilities or risk collapsing the university system altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students who joined the protest in solidarity said they were worried that their future is at risk. \u201cIf lecturers are not treated with dignity, the quality of our education will collapse,\u201d said a student, Ibrahim Sa\u2019id Mulki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The protest ended peacefully at the Senate Building, with union members and supporters urging the federal government to immediately act responsibly, honour its commitments, fulfill past promises, and give priority to the survival of Nigeria\u2019s universities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday joined their counterparts in other universities in a heated protest on campus against what they described as continued government neglect and broken promises. The protest began on the campus roads and ended at the Senate Building, where lecturers, joined by students and other members of the university community expressed anger over the federal government\u2019s handling of issues affecting Nigerian academics. Protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as \u201cA hunger to one, is a hunger to all,\u201d \u201cASUU rejects empty promises,\u201d \u201cRespect collective bargaining, honor the agreement now,\u201d and \u201cStop playing with our future.\u201d They chanted slogans and sang solidarity songs, warning the government not to toy with the future of education in the country. The protest was energetic as lecturers from different departments including senior professors, marched alongside younger colleagues and students. Many described it not only as a fight for the welfare of lecturers but also a defense of the integrity of Nigeria\u2019s public university system. ASUU leaders at ABU, joined by the Vice Chancellor, condemned what they described as the government\u2019s habit of dishonouring agreements, particularly the 2009 FGN\/ASUU agreement which they said has remained unimplemented for years despite repeated assurances. They also rejected President Bola Tinubu\u2019s newly introduced lecturers\u2019 loan fund and asserted that academics need their withheld salaries, overdue salary increases, and other entitlements, not loans. \u201cThis protest is about survival,\u201d a lecturer told FCT News Gazette. \u201cWe are tired of promises that never translate into action. The government must wake up to its responsibilities or risk collapsing the university system altogether.\u201d Students who joined the protest in solidarity said they were worried that their future is at risk. \u201cIf lecturers are not treated with dignity, the quality of our education will collapse,\u201d said a student, Ibrahim Sa\u2019id Mulki. The protest ended peacefully at the Senate Building, with union members and supporters urging the federal government to immediately act responsibly, honour its commitments, fulfill past promises, and give priority to the survival of Nigeria\u2019s universities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26627"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26631,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627\/revisions\/26631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}