ASUU STRIKE 'DAY 100'

The strike action embarked upon by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has entered its 100th day. Millions of students, including those undertaking postgraduate programmes have been idling away at home for one hundred days. The failure of the Federal Government to fulfil resolutions reached with ASUU in 2009 and non-payment of accumulated earned allowances owed the university lecturers are yet to be addressed. The face-off took a turn for the worse with members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) threatening to join the strikeby shutting down primary and secondary schools in the country in solidarity with ASUU. However, President Goodluck Jonathan, during a recent media chat, said that the lingering strike has political undertone. Thousands of concerned parents bemoaned the length of the strike and the negative effect it has had on students. Among the affected students, LEADERSHIP discovered that there was a general air of gloom and anger directed towards the Federal Government and ASUU.
The students express their disappointment that their suffering was not considered at all. "This has been 100 days of absolute shame. It is perhaps the highest mark of irresponsibility that the said leaders of tomorrow would be allowed to waste away like this while our counterparts in other countries and private universities leave us in the dust,"a fresh graduate awaiting NYSC mobilisationsaid. The ongoing strike affected business owners as well. LEADERSHIP caught up with some traders in Gwagwalada, Abuja, and it's a collective tale of woe and worry. Their losses have consistently piled up since the strike commenced three months ago and many of them have been forced to find alternative means of making ends meet.