MASS PROTEST to Save Public Education Begins August 13th!

EDUCATION IS A RIGHT!! 

PRESS STATEMENT

1.     The Joint Action Front (JAF) and representatives of the various stakeholders in the education sector, comprising students, civil society groups, academic and non-academic staff unions from across the country, rose from an Expanded General Meeting yesterday, Sunday, July 28^th with the resolve to Kick off Zonal Mass Rallies/Protest on August 13^th 2013 in Lagos.

2.     The goal of the MASS PROTEST is to ensure that Public Education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels occupies number ONE (1) priority in Governments’ policies, budgeting and implementation.

3.     The meeting agreed to intensify consultation and mobilization of all stakeholders in the education sector: students, parents, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) and College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).

4.     The meeting further resolved to hold a Media Briefing a week to August 13^th to unfold the details of the PLAN OF ACTION for the nationwide protest and urge Nigerians to brace up for a protracted struggle to save the future of the Nigerian Child because the extant ruling class of looters and their cronies have no stake in PUBLIC EDUCATION because their children are funded with public wealth in the expensive and exclusive private schools in Nigeria and across the world.

5.     JAF reiterates its position on the struggle for SYSTEM CHANGE to rid Nigeria of the present class of looters and work towards the emergence of a JUST SYSTEM that would ensure democratic participation and control of our collective endowments for PUBLIC GOOD.

FORWARD EVER, BACKWARD NEVER

COMRADE ABIODUN AREMU

JAF Secretary

NB:

This is what we meant by SYSTEM CHANGE:

“Nigeria is rich. The wealth belongs to the people. Most Nigerians are hungry, have no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no potable water, no electricity supply and no affordable transportation. Most cannot feed their families or educate their children. Those who are lucky to have jobs are not much different. They also cannot afford a decent living for their families. On the other hand, there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in the majority. They loot the treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer. This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against oppression and exploitation. We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and the millions of people who are sufferings under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. System change is not replacing one exploiter’s government by another exploiter’s government. It is replacing an exploiter’s government by a people’s government to reorganise Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression”.