The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU) has urged President Bola Tinubu to address the security challenges in the North-West and other parts of the country.
ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, issued the appeal on Sunday in Katsina State during the distribution of relief supplies to over 320 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Gidan Dawa and Babbar Ruga Camps.
The Union provided the IDPs with essential items such as rice, beans, spaghetti, groundnut oil, salt, and seasoning.
Dr. Lawwali Alkali Argungu, the ASUU National Resource Person, speaking on behalf of Osodeke, highlighted the Union’s commitment to addressing the nation’s security challenges in light of the significant number of internally displaced persons in the country.
He voiced his dissatisfaction and frustration regarding the previous administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of the security problem, calling upon Tinubu to address and improve the nation, particularly in the realm of security.
“We have been giving attention to IDPs across the country. The beneficiaries here are 320. ASUU is disbursing these items to them because we are more concerned with the vulnerable groups,” he said.
“It has been a long program of ASSU. ASUU has always identified with the vulnerable groups and IDPs are the most serious vulnerable groups in Nigeria.”
“About a month or so we had a similar event in north central, so we are now doing it in the North-West. ASUU sees IDPs as the principal manifestation of serious problems of leadership in this country.”
“Looking at the number of IDPs in the country, we still have a lot to do on the security matters. We envisage that, during the last regime, the IDPs will go because the president of the country was a retired major general and these are security matters, so if such IDPs cannot go when a senior military officer is in charge, then where is our hope?”
“But we still feel, and we are calling on the present government under the watch of President Tinubu because he has come from the tribe and section of this country that we feel they are most educated and we feel the representative of such group will be able to fix this country, particularly the security matters.”
“And the parameter we always use in identifying that the security is tackled, these IDPs should be cleared. They should go back to their original homes so that they can farm, they can settle there, can be stable so that is how Nigerians should know that the security matters have been tackled.”
“We have been monitoring events in Katsina State and we appreciate the commitment of the present Governor Dikko Radda, we pray he should remain focused and do all it takes to ensure that these IDPs are resettled back to their original homes soon so that they can farm and stabilize in their own environment.