Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has called on the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to immediately resolve the protracted strike in the nation’s public universities.

Abiodun, who said the industrial action has affected other sectors of the Nigerian economy, stated that the impasse was no more a matter of who is right or wrong.

The governor said this on Thursday while speaking at the inauguration of Governing Councils of state-owned tertiary institutions and members of Ogun State Library Board at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

According to him, the current strike in the universities must be resolved in the interest of not only the students but also the entire country.

Governor Abiodun, however, urged the striking lecturers and the Federal Government to embrace peace and put an end to the strike.

He said: “We can all feel the effects of these unresolved crises not only on our university system. It has affected even other sectors of our economy. These youths are out of school. And, we all know that an idle hand is an available workshop for the devil.

“This is no more a matter of who is right or wrong. It is a matter of what is good for our youths and our nation. I therefore appeal to both sides to find a meeting point and resolve the crises for the good of our youths and our nation in general.

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“Borrowing the words of Amanda Gorman, an American National Youth Poet Laureate, ‘We know our action and inertia will be inheritance of the next generations. But one thing is certain, if we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and changes our children’s birthright…”

The governor further described those selected as members of the newly inaugurated Governing Councils as among the best brains available not only in the state but in the country.

He added that the inauguration was a celebration of the state’s worthy legacy in education as well as its abundant human capital resource.

Abiodun, therefore, charged the new members to work assiduously towards placing the state’s tertiary institutions at a vantage position to compete favourably with their contemporaries across the world.

“We also have responsibility to ensure that the management of these institutions; development of infrastructure; curriculum planning; and, others are actually in tandem with the development needs of our dear state,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the newly inaugurated members, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Prof. Toyin Ashiru, expressed appreciation to the governor for counting him and others worthy of the new appointments.

He pledged the full commitment of the appointees to the enormous task at hand, saying: “By the grace of God, they will sustain and further project the enviable heights which education in Ogun State is known for.”

The tertiary institutions include Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye; Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun; Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta; Gateway (ICT) Polytechnic, Saapade; Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa; Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu-Igbo; Ogun State College of Health Technology, Ilese; and D. S. Adegbenro Polytechnic, Itori.

The Star