Strike: Students Desperate To Switch To Private Universities – Investigation

…Parents selling property to send wards there – NAPTAN boss

…We are experiencing boom in applications for admission – Private varsities

…It is not our fault – ASUU

…No comment, Education Ministry PRO

By Adesina Wahab

The lecturers in public universities have been on strike since February 14 this year is no news, but the frustration the development has brought on students and parents/guardians may not be fully reported or quantified.

Victor Akere, a student in the Faculty of Education, the University of Lagos, expressing his disgust at the prolong strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, said he had given up hope of returning to school any time soon.

“I have put my mind off school for now. The way the Federal Government and ASUU are going about the issue, a quick end to the face-off does not seem to be in sight. What can we do now? The only option is to find means of spending this period and time doing something worthwhile,” he said.

His disposition to the strike palaver seems better than that of Juliet, a 300 level student of Computer Science who is putting pressure on her parents to change her school to a popular private university in Ogun State.

“President Muhammadu Buhari should step into the matter and let this strike be stopped. Among our university students are orphans and those from poor background. Some are even in school courtesy of philanthropists. Some parents borrow to send their children to school with the hope that within a specific period of time, the burden of repaying such would be over.

“I have three children in the university and I don’t have the money to even sponsor one in a private university not to talk of sponsoring the three. There are many people like that and on behalf of those parents, we are appealing to the President to take another look at this issue of strike and resolve it,” he stated.

Position of ASUU

Commenting on the development, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said if the public universities are in good shape, people would not want to send their wards and children to private universities.

“One of the things we are agitating for is that our universities should be in a stead to compete favourably with others globally. If public universities are good, why would people want to send their wards abroad or even to private schools here at huge costs. We must build our university system to be globally competitive and be able to attract students and lecturers from abroad.