Already, the members of Mothers in Nigeria (MIN), a non – governmental organization (NGO) are expected to meet in Lagos to deliberate on how to liaise with both the federal government and ASUU teams, to explore ways of ending the crisis.
According to an activist, Chief Rita Lori Ogbebor, who briefed journalists on the plan last Monday in Lagos, political leaders are now more concerned with holding party conventions and discussing party politics than finding a solution to the FG/ASUU crisis, which, she regretted, had kept millions of Nigerian youths idle for over a month. She said: “The Presidency is busy having party conventions all over the country. Our leaders are very serious about party politics, but they are not serious about the existence of our children and what makes the society. It is high time we stopped leaving this matter for ASUU and government to resolve.”
Ogbebor, who also heads the MIN, warned that Nigerian mothers intend to suspend all activities if their demands to end the FG/ASUU crisis are not met.
Her words: “This has been a problem for a long, long time. It seems as if we are not paying enough attention to it. This is a very grievous matter, because education is the bedrock of any society. Education is the bedrock of human resources and human resources are the bedrock of productivity. Productivity is the bedrock of our economy and the economy is the bedrock of stability. Stability is the bedrock of peace and peace is the bedrock of our unity. So, when we begin to underrate or overlook education, I wonder what we are doing?”
She insisted that mothers cannot afford to fold their arms while their children continue to wallow in idleness, as a result of the unwillingness of the present administration to find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis in the education sector.
She said: “What do we want with all the money if the children are not trained? If you go out now, you will see hundreds of young boys sitting and looking dejected. You move to another area and there is another group, sitting idle. It is the same everywhere. Is that not enough to frighten you? How many policemen can I keep around to protect me, when majority of our youths are idle and not trained? The right thing to do is to get everybody trained so that they know what is good and bad.”
She continued:“These children are with us at home. They are forming gangs because they have nothing to do. They are sitting at cybercafés all day. Their blackberries have become ready tools for them to go on the Internet and commit fraud. We intend to sit with ASUU to find out the way forward. We know of their grievances, but our interest is to see how we all can sit together and find a practical way forward. We are mothers. We do not want to speak too much grammar or go into politics. Our only goal is to find the way forward
“We will go to the government. We shall sit with them and find how we can solve the problem. We do not want to hear that the government has not got money for this or for that. After all, if you are a father in your house with six children or more, you will find a way to carry on and make sure that your children have education.”
She disclosed that negotiations were ongoing to bring women’s leaders in the country together, to form a delegation to consult the Presidency for facts before action is taken. In the same vein, the group would also consult ASUU to get the full picture of its demands.
And what if the consultations with both the government and ASUU did not go well? Ogbebor responded: “When we talk to ASUU, we will be reporting to the public. When we talk to the government, we will also be reporting to the public. And when we have finished, we will now say, this is our position. We will bring out our communiqué, which will be published, and the side that is not willing to move our children from this deadly situation, we will hold them responsible and we would then protest. It will not be ASUU protesting or the government saying this or that; but the entire women of this country will protest.
She continued: “History has it on what can happen when women revolt. Will our children continue to sit with us at home? Is there any government that wants the wrath of mothers? We will return home and tell our husbands and our children that such a government is a bad one. Will you not listen to your mother? We are saying it is a task that has to be done. All mothers will come out. There is no woman who will go to the market to labour if she knows her children will not go to school. We will boycott the market and everything for them.”
