Disturbed over the lingering industrial action of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senator representing Kwara North Senatorial District, Sadiq Suleiman Umar, has expressed hope that the matter would soon be resolved.
He said stakeholders including the legislative arm of government cannot afford to turn blind eyes to the plight of students, who have been adversely affected due to the strike of lecturers in public universities.
Umar said this in Ilorin at a parliamentary dialogue of the Senate Council of National Association of Kwara State Students (NAKSS), which was convened in his honour.
The event was themed “Parliament, the Mainstay of Democracy”.
The legislator, who spoke through the Kwara State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Architect Aliyu Muhammad Saifudden, observed that most of the current public office holders were beneficiaries of public education and it would be unfair to abandon students to their fate at this critical moment.
Umar regretted that the industrial disquiet between the federal government and the ASUU had precipitated the shutting down of public universities, saying that swift resolution of the disagreement was required for students to return to lecture rooms.
The Senator decried rising cases of social vices and anti-social behaviours among the youth and reminded them of their position as leaders of tomorrow.
“It has been observed with contempt increase in anti-social behaviours among the youth. This is quite worrisome. We believe only a fraction of youth are involved and majority of you that are not involved would make effort to carry the few deviants along”, he said.
In her remarks, the state Commissioner for Youth Development, Mrs Jemilah Bakeh, identified the youth as the pillars that sustain democracy numerically, appealing to them to engage in politics devoid of bitterness.
Also speaking, the Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, Ajayi Okasanmi, disclosed that Divisional Police Officers in the state are currently undergoing training in Abuja on election security ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
Okasanmi, a Superintendent of Police, said the force had been empowered to arrest anyone found to have committed electoral offence.
The state Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abdullateef ‘Lanre Ahmed, who spoke on the role of media practitioners in ensuring credible elections, urged Journalists that would be assigned for election coverage to conduct themselves within the ambit of the electoral law.
He noted that the development in recent elections held in some States had given a flicker of hope for the country having free, fair and credible polls in 2023.
The Senate President of NAKSS, Hassan Muhammed Hawal, said the event was organized for Nigerians to be duly informed about the responsibility of parliament in a democratic system.
