Truth be told, It was of little or no shock to me when the minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala yesterday stated categorically that the Federal government did not have enough resources to meet the demands of the Academic staff union of Nigerian universities (ASUU) who has been on strike for well over a month now.
As i have already stated, i had this news coming from the outset, not because the country's robust resources are not enough to float our affairs, not because the demands of ASUU are too outrageous and illogical, but because historical precedence has taught us that the Nigeria government is always reluctant to spend the country's wealth on the masses. The Nigerian government spends billions on payment of public officials, while they pay civil servants peanuts, yet they are not even interested in paying these meagre sums, if it were possible, the Nigerian government would make people work for free.
Since the inception of the on-going ASUU strike, i am yet to hear any statement from the president with regards to this issue. Does this imply that the presidency does not bother about the future of the hundreds of thousands of students lying waste at home? O yes, He doesn't! The 2015 elections is by the corner, and surely a president who has lost the confidence of the people on many counts including the fuel scarcity saga, arbitrary change of university names and the current ASUU strike is therefore not expecting them to vote for him again in the up-coming elections.
Therefore if he emerges as a contestant in the 2015 elections, then he obviously have something fishy up his sleeves, considering the fact that elections could either be won through voting or rigging, i beg to ask this rhetorical question, how does he intend to win?
The current ASUU strike is a very serious issue in contemporary Nigerian state, and it's high time the presidency who has been trading words with the opposition party APC faced his official duties and make speeches where one is needed, not that childish exchange of words with the APC which he never seems to get tired of doing.
You know how funny our government is, let us hope that Okonjo-Iweala's statement is just a joke, and that the government would soon make a real statement.
NIGERIA IS A RICH STATE, LET THE GOVERNMENT ANSWER ASUU NOW!
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