As the crisis in the education sector lingers with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) holding its ground that all agreements it made with the Federal Government must be honoured before resuming to the classrooms, a former students' leader has admonished Nigerian students to monitor how funds allocated to universities are spent.
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As the crisis in the education sector lingers with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) holding its ground that all agreements it made with the Federal Government must be honoured before resuming to the classrooms, a former students' leader has admonished Nigerian students to monitor how funds allocated to universities are spent.
ASUU had on Thursday announced that it was withdrawing from further negotiations with the federal government, which it accused of insincerity.
President of the International Press Centre, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, gave the advice during a solidarity visit by the executive members of the National Association of Students (NANS) to his office in Lagos on Thursday.
Mr. Arogundade, a former president of NANS, and also a former chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), tasked the students to be vigilant, as they are in solidarity with their lecturers who have been on strike for the past seven weeks following the inability of the federal government to honour the agreement reached with the teachers.
He said it was important for the students to monitor how the funds allocated to the institutions are spent by the authorities of the schools.
Arogundade condemned what the students' union in Nigeria had turned itself into as it had become an award issuing platform for politicians, especially corrupt ones. He recalled with nostalgia how vibrant activism was, with independent and frantic students union of old, marking out its clear distinction from the charade it has now become.
"We made sacrifices even in the face of temptations and I personally did not regret my choice," he said.
He charged the students to emulate the old, vibrant style of activism in order to achieve the best of results.
The media chieftain also asserted that Nigeria is in possession of requisite resources to meet all demands, tasking the students to engage the government and the public by investigating and publishing how huge funds that should have been channelled towards funding education are squandered.
"In our time, we took note of all funds accruing to government and used it to prove our points that the military government had all that was required to make education free for students," he said, and urged the students to adopt similar strategy as well as craft newer ones to pressure the government into making gainful use of embezzled funds.
"Take for instance the EFCC's report that government had squandered over N400 billion in unaccounted expenses so far, that is enough for you to react," Arogundade said, adding that not up to half of the amount was needed to assuage the crisis plaguing the education sector in the country.
He presented to the students publications on corruption and budgeting in Nigeria, as well as media coverage of government issues in the country and beyond, believing that it would assist them in gaining insight into corrupt activities of government.
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