The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, has called on critical stakeholders to join the union in its mission of rescuing the dying university system.

The ASUU Benin Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Fred Esumeh, made the appeal on Monday during a news conference in Benin.

Esumeh pleaded with all-well meaning Nigerians to wake up and join the union in salvaging what remained of the country by repositioning the universities to become globally competitive.

This, the zonal official, said would enable the system to produce the manpower required to jump-start the re-emergence of technological and economic power.

“On Feb. 14, ASUU, after more than a calendar year of exploring all available and legitimate means in its effort to compel the Federal Government of Nigeria to honor the terms of the Memorandum of Action it signed with the Union in December 2020, was left with no option, other than to declare a four-week roll-over strike.

“But at the expiration of the four weeks when the government created the impression that it required more time to address the issues at stake, ASUU rolled over the strike for another eight weeks to provide the Federal Government with more than sufficient time to comprehensively sort out the patriotic demand by the union.

“The representatives of government continued to toy with the future of our children, students, and nation, such that 57 days after they were sent packing from the institutions, the resolution of the principal outstanding issues of the deployment of the university

“Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and the signing and implementation, and the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement remains at the level of mere proposals, fruitless and empty assurances.

“Yet, these are issues that could have been adequately resolved in weeks by any well-meaning and serious-minded government,” said the ASUU leader.