Kukah knocked the stakeholders for their failure to address the issue, saying the strike has turned undergraduates to out-of-school children.

The cleric said this during the signing of the peace accord by governorship candidates in Osun on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. 

The ongoing strike by ASUU has been on for four months. 

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari recently asked the union to take into account the plight of students and reconsider its stance on the strike, but the union insists that the government should address the issues that led to the strike.

Describing the strike as a tragedy, Kukak said the endless strike which has kept undergraduates out of school for over four months would have negative impacts on Nigeria’s democracy.

The cleric said, “For us in Nigeria, the university students who count in millions can be classified as out-of-school children. This is unacceptable, especially as I said, that these things are happening in a democracy.

“Democracy has always given us an opportunity for negotiation, consensus and so on. And it is a tragedy. The chairman of INEC is himself a professor; a lot of the election results are being announced by professors. It is, therefore, not acceptable that after so many months, our universities are still closed.

“We must understand that without the universities given opportunities for academic energy and analyses and theorising, it’s impossible for our democracy to grow.

“So, the most important thing therefore for political actors — and I’m speaking not only for the people of Osun, I’m also speaking to the political actors in Nigeria — that it is time for us to take our responsibilities sufficiently seriously.”