The presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP),
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to end the
lingering strike by university lecturers in the country under the aegis of
Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) on his first day in
fooice if elected the next president of the country.
The PDP presidential candidate made this disclosure in
Lagos last weekend at the Silverbird Man of the Year event.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr. Paul Ibe,
said the industrial action which has denied university students in the country
access to education for a period of four months is disgraceful and would
receive his first attention as president if voted into office in the February
16 presidential election.
The former vice president observed that education plays a
pivotal role in the rise to success of any individual or nation, stressing that
if he becomes the next president of Nigeria, his administration would increase
the budgetary allocation to education in triple fold from the current seven per
cent to not less than 20 per cent.
He stated that “I am aghast that as I speak, our students
across the country are not being educated due to the ASUU strike caused by an unresolved
debate of about N60billion.
“If I get the job I am seeking, my first task on day one, along
with my cabinet, will be to end this disgraceful strike and get our students
back to their studies.
“I will also
triple the amount the Nigerian Government spends on education from seven per
cent of its budget presently, to not just the 15 per cent recommended by
UNESCO, but to 20 per cent.
“I recognise the value education can bring to
individual and the nation. But even more than that, I want every child in Nigeria
to have the opportunities I had.”
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