By Favour Oyinade
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, says the crisis between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government may never end if both parties do not dialogue and implement agreements.
Sultan made the remark at the official commissioning and handover ceremony of Bola Babalakin Guest House built by Babalakin Family and donated to Fountain University, Osogbo on Tuesday
He charged the Federal Government to sit down and find a way of resolving the crisis for all for the betterment of educational advancement in the country.
According to him, “We just came out of an unfortunate ASUU crisis. I believe we have come out of the eight months that our children were at home. Very sad and frustrating but these are things that we could have avoided by continuously talking because it is not today that ASUU started having problems with the government and they will never stop having a problem with the government.
“The best thing is that anytime there is a problem, you sit down and discuss to find a way out. If you have a problem with your wife, you divorce her and marry another one. You have a problem with the new one you divorce again, then you become a divorcee champion.
“So when you have a problem with anyone, what you should do is to sit down and dialogue in an honest way and once you have agreed on any terms please try to implement your agreement.
“But, if you think you can not, come back to the table again and discuss more. Then you have other alternatives to solve the problem but not embarking on a strike that will affect the children. I know how our children have been affected psychologically and emotionally by the eight months strike, I think that is not good for us.
“I have been pleading with ASUU, I have been part of the negotiation team with ASUU at the federal government level and I know what we have discussed. There are things that we could have done more to be honest with one another in ensuring that our children whom we all care for me in school and graduate.
“No matter how bad a university is, the school turns out thousands of graduates who are excellent and brilliant. Why do we have to continue fighting over some little issues? The government can not fund all educational issues, people should come out and help to fund public tertiary institutions so that we can have a better situation in our schools, especially our universities.”
