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As the university system continues to deteriorate, ASUU, the nation’s conscience, the primary stakeholders’ union is struggling to reverse the trend that has led to persistent industrial action in the last decade. The union has consistently pushed for implementing the United Nations Fund of Population Activities (UNFPA), which specifies a 15% to 20% annual education budget for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria. However, the national budgetary spending on education has remained below 10%. It is imperative that the nation wakes up and addresses the issues raised by ASUU for a promising, glorious future.   

This is a National Assembly that has for decades refused to tell Nigerians the true amount they receive each month as salary and allowances. There was a breach in their armour of secrecy this week when Senator Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano), on Wednesday, confirmed that he receives about N21+1 million monthly as his perquisite for representing the people of Kano South Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly.

The government, and here I mean the federal and state governments, must always be truthful and fair to the citizens. They must also make their agencies work. The government must let the government function. In almost all cases, it is the government that makes the government fail because the actors do everything from a prism of personal gain. Service has taken the backseat. Then there is the Nigerian syndrome of “Do you know who I am?”

The political class, entrusted with the responsibility of leading the nation towards a brighter future, has seemingly benefited immensely, while the people who voted them into power continue to grapple with the harsh realities of economic hardship, insecurity, and pervasive corruption.