Officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities are advocating for a socialist state in Nigeria, noting that only ‘a socialist welfare state’ could solve the country’s social and economic problems.

At a press conference on Monday after its National Executive Council meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, the union also said it would push for the formation of a genuine people’s workers party that will meet the challenges of forging the building of a free Nigeria.

National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Isa, who read the position of the union argued that the socialist welfare state will creatively reconstruct Nigeria’s economic and political institutions to serve the welfare needs of the populace.

The meeting was attending by the national officers of the union, past presidents of ASUU  including, Prof. Assisi Asobie; Dr. Oladipo Fashina; Dr. Sule-Kano Abdullahi, chairman of ASUU, University of Calabar branch, Dr. Charles Okpiliya, among others.

“The socialist welfare state will creatively reconstruct Nigeria’s economic and political institutions to serve the welfare needs of Nigerians.  It will remove the economic basis of the nationality problem, promote freedom of religion in condition of equality of citizens and remove the basis of state plunder and terror,” Isa noted.

Insisting that the current situation in the country is more favourable to a few who are consistently controlling the economy, he advocated a “radical and effective measures to substantively elevate the level o0f the welfare of the poor.”

Isa, who identified the challenges facing the country as corruption, worsening income and capital inequality, unemployment and diminishing access by the poor to education and health, submitted that that the tools that could be used to confront the domination of Nigeria were structural and instrumental.

“Structurally, there is need to adopt a developmental model that will make majority of the Nigerian people the key subjects (participants) and object (ends) of the development process in the face of aggressive intervention by agents of global capitalism,” he explained.

He noted that “the adoption of a socialist welfare state will be reinforced with decentralization of legislative power, decentralization of executive power and general acceptance of contractual non-concentration of power.”

Speaking on the formation of genuine worker’s party, the ASUU president said, “There is the need for a genuine people’s party, organised with full lessons from the past efforts. The party must be organised to meet the challenges of forging the building the nation where everbody lives in freedom and happiness.”

When confronted with the existence of Labour Party which is linked with workers, Isa said the LP had been hijacked by politicians, adding that it was no longer addressing the problems of the masses.

“Labour Party is there,  but is it really labour oriented? Is it addressing the problem of the masses?” he said.