By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed worry that little or nothing has been done to ameliorate the excruciating conditions of Nigerians ahead of the 2023 elections.

It regretted that for the majority of Nigerians, the business of existence has become nightmarish with the implementation of the ill-conceived currency redesign policy.

ASSU in a statement signed by its president lamented that ordinary citizens are on a daily basis confronted with the gruesome sense of abandonment by federal, state, and local authorities whose primary responsibilities are the security and welfare of the citizens.

The statement partly reads: “Poverty, hunger, diseases and sundry existential challenges have become daily companions of the citizenry.

“Meanwhile, political elites carry on as if they have lost every idea about organising and running a decent society for the benefit of all.

“The country, no doubt, is in dire need of focused leadership that will restore order and inject life into a nation desperately gasping for breath.”

ASUU in the statement signed by its National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, further hailed Nigerians for their resilience and steadfastness in pushing for the entrenchment of democratic ethos.

It noted that Democracy is wider and deeper than the four-year election cycles, adding that the demand for a regime of free, fair, credible, and non-violent electoral process is a legitimate pre-requisite in the country’s search for pro-people governance and a mechanism for galvanising the collaborative efforts of Nigerians for transforming what the ruling class has termed “our nascent democracy”.

While saying that the country’s situation has made participation in the upcoming elections a moral duty to change the narratives of ballot stuffing and snatching, thuggery.

Vote-buying and other electoral ills of the past, ASUU noted that all hands must be on deck.

Continuing, the statement said: “ASUU posits that it is time Nigerians reorganized the political and socio-economic equations of the country for the benefit of the generality of its people. A stop must be put to a situation where the resources of the country are concentrated in the hands of a few manipulative political elites.

“This is why ASUU calls on Nigerians to carefully weigh the profiles and antecedents of those that have been thrown up by various political parties before casting their votes. Education, particularly university education, is the catalyst to Nigeria’s developmental challenges and Nigerians should be wary of politicians whose antecedents are antithetical to the provision of qualitative and affordable education in the country.

“Owing to some unpalatable reports available to the leadership of ASUU, the union resolved and stated after 2015 general elections that it would no longer recommend its members to participate in the conduct of general elections as representatives of ASUU. “However, the union understands that members as citizens have civic rights and can make individual decisions on playing roles in the electoral process apart from voting.

“ASUU members who so decide are, therefore, strongly advised to exercise utmost restraints to protect the collective image of the academia.”

ASUU called on political gladiators and all saddled with the responsibility of

Delivering on the 2023 elections to play the game according to the rules, adding that Nigeria is a collective heritage.

It also said that no efforts should be spared to salvage the sinking fortunes of the nation for generations yet unborn.