The former Lagos State Attorney-General and Professor of law Yemi Osinbajo (SAN)has yesterday blamed the government for the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Osinbajo declared that it is time the government begins to look at ways in which the issues surrounding education and other tensions in the society can be engaged without waiting until things get unamendable.

Speaking as a guest speaker at the ongoing NIAL Annual Festival of Legal Scholarship at the Lagos Campus of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the lawyer appealed to government to reconsider how it deals with conflict and not allow matters to get out of hand before acting.

He lamented on the negative impact the strike is already spelling on education, condemning the fact that the environment is used to folding hands until there is strike or somebody does something dramatic or alarming before a permanent solution is proffered to situation.

“Generally speaking, governments always appear to be uninterested in resolving an issue until it comes to a head. That is the reason strikes have become very popular. I do not see any reason why we should be talking of academics and the funding of universities in this way. It should be basic. The United Nations (UN) has recommended, at least, 20 per cent of the budget for education, but these parameters are never met,” he said.

NIALS Director-General Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) also said the falling standard of education was more manifest at the primary and secondary school levels, explaining that many secondary school leavers could not write or speak Basic English.

Azinge criticised ASUU for allegedly not contributing enough to academic research, saying: “Let ASUU tell us what it has done for the country in terms of research. America is talking of driverless cars and we cannot even manufacture a bicycle!”