All hands must be on deck, according to Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to guarantee that academic strikes at institutions become a thing of the past.
The Speaker made the remark in a statement congratulating the Academic Staff Union of Universities on calling off its eight-month strike.
Among other things, the academics had wanted improved welfare and the revitalization of public colleges.
Gbajabiamila said it is time to “admit certain painful facts and take extreme action,” while expressing gratitude to the Federal Government and the ASUU leadership for finding a solution to stop the strike.
He lamented the eight-month length of the strike and said it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
He aslo said that public universities should be citadels of learning and innovation, where young people discover themselves and reach for the stars, adding that the government, universities, unions, and citizens should begin the critical conversation about the future of public tertiary education in the country.
“Our public universities should be citadels of learning and innovation, where young people discover themselves and reach for the stars,” he said.
Mr Femi Gbajabiamila called on the government, universities, unions, and citizens “to begin the critical conversation about the future of public tertiary education in the country.”
