Recession: ASUU blames FG’s economic policies

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Tuesday, knocked the Federal Government over poor handling of the current economic recession that has continued to pauperised Nigerian citizens.

The union also warned the Federal Government to take urgent steps towards ensuring renegotiation of the 2009 agreement it reached with the lecturers.

ASUU president, Biodun Ogunyemi, who spoke while addressing newsmen in Abuja, said tension was already gathering momentum on campuses for the lecturers to down tools if nothing was done urgently to ameliorate the situation in the country.

He blamed the current recession on some of the poor economic policies introduced by the administration without considering the pains and consequence to the poor masses.

According to ASUU, the government of the day was feigning ignorance that its economic policies was pauperising Nigerians and, by implication, making them go through psychological torture.

ASUU president said rather than searching for homegrown solutions to Nigeria’s problems, government was busy hobnobbing with international money bags such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, same institutions that promoted capitalism in most part of the world.

He said it was apparent that the political class demonstrated its helplessness to meet the needs of Nigerians, adding that “the fundamental direction for the development of an egalitarian society, as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution, has not only been negated but also vigorously violated by the governing class for the interest of a very few minority.”

Ogunyemi lamented the purchasing power of Nigerians which, he said, had been reduced many times over, noting that it would be preposterous to extricate the government of complicity on the devaluation.

He described the current recession as self imposed, a situation that had made the economy cash strapped.

“Government has failed to be an ally of the people and has handed over the economy to the neo-liberal agents with dire consequencies for the country.

“The economy would continue to bleed and our people would be driven further into perpetual state of need and slavery,” he said.