Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged both the Federal and State Governments to provide everyday essential needs to Nigerians for the ‘Stay at Home Order’ to be effective.
Stating this in a statement titled, “COVID-19: Together We Shall Win”, ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi said that the masses need food, water and light to survive this lockdown period, adding that if these are not readily available, people would go out to look for them.
Ogunyemi hinted that the Union’s intervention in distributing sanitisers and other sensitisation materials to check the spread of COVID-19 has taken place at the University of Ibadan (UI) and University of Jos (UNIJOS), adding that such endeavour would continue in her chapters nationwide.
ASUU warned that unless the needs of people are made available, the Federal and State Governments may face rebellion from people which would be counterproductive.
The ASUU President called on the Federal and State Governments to see how Education and Health would become top priorities after this pandemic, saying working together, the country would overcome.
“Access to electricity and running water and an unbroken chain of food supply and availability of other essential items should be key components of the policy called “lockdown”. Unless the people’s survival needs are factored into the equation, governments at the national and sub-national levels may be courting an uncontrollable regime of rebellion which may be counterproductive to the cause of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. It can be argued that no issue has ever brought humanity so close for many decades as recently done by the coronavirus or COVID-19.
“The lesson in all of this is, more than ever before, the world has come to realise that issues of health and safety know no territorial boundaries and political leaders everywhere had better worked with everyone to make our world safe for all. ASUU subscribes to this winning formula and path to collective health. In this our shared globe, no one is safe epidemiologically, socially or physically until everyone is safe.
“We can conquer the fear emerging from the manifestation of this global pandemic in our little corners. We can contribute to the global movement for prevention and control of its spread by applying the health guides and information from the World Health Organisation and other professional institutions and agencies in our personal and family lives as well as by sharing them to help others around us stay safe and healthy”, he said.
