Sen. Oluremi Tinubu on Tuesday called for declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector of the country.
Tinubu, the wife of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Bola Tinubu, made the call while speaking with newsmen in Lagos.
The senator, representing Lagos Central senatorial district spoke on the side line of the opening of the 12th Annual Research Conference and Fair organised by the University of Lagos.
The senator was reacting to the indefinite strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) nationwide.
The lecturers were protesting the non-implementation of both the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the 2009 agreement it entered into with the Federal Government.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had on Monday declared an indefinite strike over Federal Government failure to keep to the 2009 agreement.
According to Tinubu, for a country to excel, its education must be built on a firm foundation.
“We have to declare a state of emergency on education in this country. This is what we have been going through, even during the budget process. There are lots of shortfalls in our universities.
“Even when I visit universities, when I look at their laboratories and a lot of other teaching materials, they are nothing to be cheerful about,’’ she said.
She recalled that during her school days, she was not from a rich family, “but I went through school and was proud to go through school’’.
She urged the Federal Government to look into the agitation of the union seriously and proffer a workable solution.
“I also want to plead with ASUU to show understanding with the government, and consider the young people.”
Tinubu noted that when a country is filled with more than half of the population, not being properly educated, “it becomes detrimental to the growth of the nation.