Mr Femi Falana (SAN), a lawyer for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has appealed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and others to pressure the federal government to meet the union’s demands.
Falana stated this in a lecture, ‘Remaking Nigeria: The Youth as Change Agents’, delivered during the fourth convocation ceremony of Augustine University, Ilara Epe, Lagos.
“It is our collective duty as Nigerians to ensure that with the lecturers returning to class, the agreements between the government and ASUU are implemented. It is imperative for all those who appealed or prevailed in one way or another on the lecturers to return to class, to also do same to ensure that the government keeps to its side of the agreements,” he said.
While emphasising the strategic importance of youths, he highlighted some of the honours brought to the country by youths in the areas of music, sports, science, politics etc.
“Today, we have many gerontocrats who are in power, hoping to be in power or assume they are power brokers. But the respect and positive visibilty 25-year-old Tobi Amusan, the African, Commonwealth and World 100 meters hurdles champion has brought to our country is far more than what the totality of these gerontocrats has brought the country,” stated Falana.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Christopher Odetunde, cautioned that ignorance costs more than acquiring education at high fees.
He added that the National Universities Commission (NUC) proposed five new undergraduate programmes for verification, including Human Anatomy, Computer Engineering, Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, and Physiology.
In his remarks, the visitor to the university, the Catholic Bishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Dr Adewale Martins, commended the management for the high standard of discipline and education given to the students.
He charged the graduands to follow the path of honour and seek excellence in their careers in godly manners.
