Former vice president of Nigeria and presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has pledged that if elected come 2023 general election, there would not be ASUU strike.
Newsonline reports that Atiku stated that he started investing in education for 30 years from nursery to university and understood how it should be run.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar stated this on Friday while commemorating International Youths Day (IYD) with the youths of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja.
Atiku stated that he understands to value and importance of education in a child because he benefited from education even though he had uneducated parents.
He said ” It will never happen under a PDP government or under my administration when I am elected.
“Do you know why I say that? I have been investing in education for the past 30 years. In the nursery, I started Primary, Secondary, and University we have never gone on strike for even one day.
“This is because it is fundamental to your growth. It doesn’t matter whether you are in politics, whether you’re in business, in whatever sector you are. The fundamental right of every youth or every citizen is to be educated. And therefore it is the responsibility of any responsible government to make sure that right is given to every Nigerian youth in this country.
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“I have the public pronouncement of my intention to have a youth inclusive government. This is because it is our responsibility to provide you with the opportunities to acquire the training and also the experience to take over from us, your parents just as the Chairman said.”
The PDP presidential candidate recalled his experience with schooling as a young child following his father’s dislike for western education.
“My father never wanted me to go to school. Eventually, he was forced to let me go to school. And while in primary two, I decided to pay him a visit and he said you will never go back to that school. When school resumed, the clerk of the court came and arrested him and arrested me. They took me to the school and they took him to prison. The following day he was taken before the judge and he was fined 10 shillings.
“He said that he didn’t have any money. And my maternal grandmother, who was a small trader, paid the money, and he went and said, well, I put you to God. I never saw him until he died. And my grandparents brought me up and let me finish primary school to secondary school and then to university.
“So youth of this country. I believe that the PDP provides the best platform for you to actualize your individual, collective and national aspirations. I, therefore, call on the use of Nigeria to join the PDP, to support the PDP, to return the PDP to power so that we can rescue this country and make sure we rescue. We must make sure we rescue the most important segment of our population, that is the youth,” Atiku said.
