Strike: FG told to channel Abacha loot to ASUU immediately

A member of the House of Representatives representing Jos South/Jos East Federal constituency, Dachung Musa Bagos, on Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to use part of the $23 million recovered by the United States government from the family of the late head of state, Gen Sani Abacha, to address the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Bagos, who made the call when he featured on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, said some of the areas the federal government channels the funds to are not the immediate needs of Nigerians.

Recall that the federal government and its US counterpart signed an agreement to repatriate the funds to Nigeria on Tuesday.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who addressed journalists after the signing of the agreement, said the recovered loot, tagged “Abacha-5” has been designated for the completion of the Abuja-Kano road, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Second Niger Bridge.

Bagos, however, lamented that the federal government did not inform the National Assembly about the recovered funds.

He stressed that the lawmakers have the constitutional right to discuss how the funds would be spent for the benefit of Nigerians.

ASUU embarked on a 30-day warning strike on February 14 over the Federal Government’s refusal to honour past agreements reached by both parties.

The varsity lecturers are demanding the review of condition of service every five years, revitalisation of public universities, and adoption of University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as an alternative to the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) for payment of salaries, among others.

The union’s strike entered its 191st day on Wednesday.

The lawmaker said: “This is my third year in the National Assembly, we have never discussed any of the recovered loot. We just sit down and we hear that the executive recovered loot and allotted the same to projects that they so desire.

“We believe that when we discuss these issues at the national assembly, [and] we appropriate those funds according to the needs of Nigeria, it is going to go a long way; not just the executive looking at it and alloting it to what they feel it should be. The constitution has given us that right.

“We have pressing needs. Like now, ASUU has been on strike and the government is trying to settle those issues.

“As a representative of the people, if I have to argue where those funds should be channelled to, I will say, ‘why can’t you channel part of this fund to ASUU so that most of the youths that are at home would go back to school?’

“But some of the areas we feel that the executive is channelling those funds are not the immediate needs of Nigerians.

“As a representative of the people, if I have to argue where those funds should be channelled to, I will say, ‘why can’t you channel part of this fund to ASUU so that most of the youths that are at home would go back to school?”