A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, who is also a lawyer to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Mr. Femi Falana, has appealed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and others who impressed it on the union to suspend its recent strike to also put pressure on the Federal Government to fulfil its obligations to the union.
Falana stated this yesterday while delivering a lecture during the Fourth Convocation ceremony of Augustine University, Ilara Epe, Lagos.
The title of the lecture was “Remaking Nigeria: The youth as change agents.”
Falana noted that youths displayed unparalleled undertanding and support regarding the demands of the lecturers, which he opined were intended to move the education sector forward.
” It is our collective duty as Nigerians to ensure that with the lecturers returning to class, the agreements between the government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, 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, should 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 listed 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 have brought the country. Certainly, the light she has brought to shine on Nigeria this year is far brighter than megatons of social media campaigns secured at hundreds of millions of dollars, ” he noted.
He called on youths to take up the gauntlet and save the nation from the grip of those misruling it.
In his speech, the Vice Chancellor, Augustine University, Prof. Christopher Odetunde, said as the cost of education goes up, Nigerians should not be delusional about it, as the cost of ignorance is much higher.
He added that five new undergraduate programmes had been proposed for verification by the National Universities Commission (NUC). They are Human Anatomy, Computer Engineering; Medical Laboratory Science; Nursing; and Physiology.
In his remarks, the Visitor to the university, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Dr Adewale Martins, lauded 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 and not join the wagon of lazy youths seeking to make it in crooked manners.
The Best Graduating Student, Tolefe Emmanuel Chukwufunmanya, gave the assurance that all the good virtues inculcated in them in the school would be used to guide their steps in the outside world.
