By John Ikani
The Speaker of the Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has apologised for posting pictures of his course attendance at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Nigerian universities have been closed since February after lecturers accused the government of reneging on an agreement on their allowances and improved funding for public universities.
On Tuesday, Gbajabiamila, who is currently on a leadership course at Harvard, yesterday posted pictures of himself while in class on his Twitter handle.
He said: “Back to class. In a leadership course at @Harvard @Kennedy_School. Forget the number of grey hairs one is never too old to learn, broaden or sharpen your skills.”
Moments after posting them, Nigerian students who are currently on strike in the country condemned his action.
The Speaker apologised on Wednesday, and went on to delete photos on Thursday afternoon.
“Yesterday I posted a picture of myself at the @Harvard @Kennedy_School, undergoing a course. That post was not sensitive to the present feelings of fellow citizens, especially parents and students who are presently bearing the brunt of the ongoing closure of public universities …owing to the unresolved issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“I apologize for the post at this time, and I hope you will understand that it was not my intention to cause disaffection. As Speaker of @HouseNGR, I have made multiple interventions within the powers of the legislature to avert the ongoing strike.I had direct engagements with ASUU..relevant government agencies,” his tweet read in part.
It is worthwhile to note that academic activities in public universities have been suspended since February 14, 2022, leaving hundreds of thousands of students at home.
The union said successive Nigerian administrations failed to implement the agreements reached in 2009.
ASUU has demanded President Muhammadu Buhari adopt the Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for paying universities’ staff salaries instead of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System and the payment of academic earned allowance (EAA), among others.
On Tuesday, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) mobilised unions across the country protested in solidarity with ASUU, demanding that Buhari meet ASUU’s demands so students could return to school.
