A civic group, the Future Nigeria Movement (FNM), has criticised the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for what it described as its continued dependence on strike actions to press demands from the Federal Government.
In a statement signed by its National Leader, Livingstone Wechie, and released in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the group said the union’s approach was “unpatriotic” and harmful to national development. “The recent declaration of a two-week warning strike will further drown the educational fortunes of what is left of Nigeria,” the group said.
FNM expressed concern that the strike came at a time when ASUU had acknowledged an ongoing intellectual crisis in public universities, citing the recent exit of 309 professors nationwide as an “intellectual haemorrhage” threatening the system’s survival.
While urging the Federal Government to treat ASUU’s demands as a national priority, the group called on both parties to adopt dialogue and other peaceful mechanisms to resolve disputes and prevent further disruption to the academic calendar.