A member of the House of Representatives by the name Dachung Musa Bagos, has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria headed by President Muhammadu Buhari to use part of the recently returned $23.5 million Abacha loot from Nigeria to settle the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Recall that Nigeria and the United States of America on Tuesday, signed an agreement for the repatriation of $23.5 million recovered funds said to have been looted by Nigeria former military head of state late General Sani Abacha.
ASUU has been on strike since February 2022 over poor welfare, revitalization of public universities, nonpayment of salaries, among other reasons.
One bone of contention for the academic lecturers is the non-payment of university revitalisation funds, amounting to about N1.1 trillion, as all efforts by the government to make the union end the strike have been unsuccessful.
While the government says it does not have enough funds to settle the lecturers, Bagos, who represents Jos South and Jos East federal constituency, is wondering why the recent Abacha loot should not be used to settle ASUU.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Bagos said; “We have pressing needs. Like now, ASUU has been on strike, and the government is trying to settle those issues.
“As a representative of the people, if I have to argue where those funds should be channeled to, then I will say, ‘why can’t you channel this fund to ASUU so that most of the youths that are at home would go back to school?’ But unfortunately, some of the areas the Federal Government is channeling those funds are not on the immediate needs of Nigerians.”
He added saying, “This is my third year in the National Assembly, we have never discussed any of the recovered loot. We just sit down and we hear that the Federal Government recovered loot money and allotted the same loot money to projects that they desire.
“We believe that when we discuss these issues at the National Assembly, we appropriate those funds according to the needs of Nigeria, it is going to go a long way; not just the Federal Government looking at it and allocating the fund to whatever they feel it should be. The constitution has given us that right and so we must respect it.”
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