The Academic Staff Union of Universities is demanding the withdrawal of the doctorate degree of the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.
The union’s demand is contained in a petition to University of Jos. The union also wanted the minister probed.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that ASUU, which commenced a warning strike on February 14, 2022 has yet to call off the industrial action.
Some of the demands of the union include the demand for university autonomy, release of revitalisation funds for Nigerian universities, and the deployment of the University Transparency Accountability and Solution payment platform for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers among others.
The government and the union have yet to reach a consensus on the issues raised.
As the impasse persists, Nwajiuba disclosed that the union had written to UNIJOS asking for the recall of his certificate.
“ASUU wrote UNIJOS to recall my certificate. I am not sure what it is they are pursuing. I was informed by the university that this was the directive from ASUU: to investigate my certificate. That is how far they have gone.
“When I got the letter from the university, in fact, the university didn’t hide it, they noted that ASUU wrote them.” The minister told PUNCH.
Speaking on the issue, National Vice President, Special Duties of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Idiahi Thomas, faulted Nigeria’s educational sector, saying, “our leaders have bastardised it, and, as it is, Nigerian students are at home and yet, government officials are busy purchasing forms for N100 million, an amount presidents of other countries cannot earn constitutionally throughout their four-year tenure.
“If the Federal Government does not want us to remain here, they know what to do. You are taking a course of four years or five years, but the strike makes you spend six to seven years. Post graduate students who are supposed to spend 18 months are spending two to three years and some get frustrated and abandon their programme.”
A student Union leader from AAU, Abumere Joseph, said, “We are tired of staying at home. For the past three months, we have not attended classes, I was supposed to graduate in April but as it is now, I don’t know when I will graduate, I have been in one level for close to two years, so we are tired.”
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