THE Zonal Coordinator, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Akure Zone, Prof. Olufayo Olu-Olu, said on Wednesday that the looming industrial action by lecturers in the country’s public universities was due to the Federal Government’s lack of interest in human capital development.

Olu-Olu wondered how the Federal Government expected university teachers “to be happy on the job when we cannot pay our utility bills, hospital bills or school fees of our children while their wards are schooling outside the country. Must you wait for all of us to die before you know there is fire on the mountain?”

He maintained that lecturers should not be held responsible should the universities be shut down again, calling on stakeholders to advise the Federal Government to fulfill its agreement with the union for the country to move forward.

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The ASUU coordinator, who spoke in Ado Ekiti during a press conference addressed by the zonal leadership, lamented that the Federal Government reneged on the implementation of the Memorandum of Action it had with ASUU despite the December 2020 timeline for the implementation of all outstanding issues.

Olu-Olu said, “We always warn before embarking on our actions. We appeal to all stakeholders and lovers of education to admonish the government to fulfill its part of the agreement for the future of our country and the protection of our endangered education system. ASUU should not be held responsible if our campuses are shut down again.”