From Noah Ebije, Kaduna and Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on the Federal Government to shift ground on the crisis with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), while also appealing to ASUU to show sympathy to the students and their academic future.
To this end, ACF advised ASUU members to consider offers put forward to them by government and respect the rule of law.
The Forum stated this in a communique after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, yesterday, where it also addressed insecurity, calling on security agencies to step up their strategy to root out terrorists and ensure permanent peace across the country.
The communique was read by the Secretary General of the Forum, Murtala Aliyu.
“The ACF is sadden by the protracted and unresolved dispute between ASUU and the Federal Government. To resolve the dispute, the parties must have the interest of education and the future of our children and the nation at heart. ACF advises the government to shift ground while emphatically asking the ASUU members to show sympathy for the future of the students and consider offers made by government and respect the rule of law. The ACF commends the efforts of the federal and state governments and of course the security agencies for scaling down the level of insecurity in most parts of the country, especially in the North where insecurity had taken an alarming proportion.
“However, incidences of attacks on villages and highways and kidnappings in states of the North West/North East and parts of North Central are still happening which are worrisome. We call on the security agencies to revisit their strategy to root out these insurgents and terrorists to ensure and restore permanent peace to the land.
“The appeal also goes to the members of the media to be mindful of the information they dish out to the public. The flooding covering substantial parts of the North, especially the flood plains of Jigawa, Kogi and Niger states and to some lesser extent, other states of North and the country at large are disturbing.
“Lives have been lost while the survivors have lost their habitats, other belongings and in most cases, their farm produce to the floods. Governments at all levels must come to the aid of those affected immediately and substantially. Global warming, which is the major course of the unprecedented flooding, has caused devastating effects to our food security as a nation. Federal and state government should put in place mechanism and appropriate infrastructure to control further damages and destruction of property and provide adequate relief to the victims.
“ACF advises politicians to play politics by the rule. They must guard their utterances and everything possible to avoid heating up the polity. Campaigns should be issue-based. It has been observed that there is already a voter apathy. Sectarian and divisive issues must be avoided at all costs to further discourage rational voters from exercising their civic rights. Nigeria must be safe and stable for any meaningful progress to be achieved and for the winner, who ever he may be to give leadership. It is in this regard that the ACF together with other Northern groups arrange to meet with various presidential candidates to know their policies towards uniting and developing the entire country.
“ACF also enjoins the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a proper and transparent elections by maintaining and even surpassing their current records. The government, on its part, together with other development partners, must provide adequate and timely resources to achieve this.”