Nigeria@60: Gov. Umahi underscores need for sacrifice

Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, is calling on key actors in Nigeria’s university system, to make the necessary sacrifices that would bring an end to the on-going strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

Umahi, who made the call in a statewide broadcast to mark the 60th Independence Anniversary as well as the 24th anniversary of the state’s creation, thinks that the lingering ASUU strike has become unreasonable.

The strike embarked by the ASUU on March 23, 2020, in protest against the government’s use of force to enrol its members on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, as well as a request for the Federal Government to implement the 2012 universities’ needs assessment, has kept Nigerian students in public universities away from school for over six months.

Worried by the adverse effect the continued strike could have on the future of Nigerian students, Governor Umahi wants the strike called off.

He believes that the key to achieving this is by all parties making sacrifices.

On Ebonyi State at 24, Umahi said that though the journey has been a challenging one, the state has a lot to thank God for.

Ebonyi State is one of the six new states in Nigeria created on October 1, 1996, by the administration of late General Sani Abacha from the old Abakaliki division of Enugu State and old Afikpo division of Abia State with 13 local government areas.