Boko Haram Regroups, Threatens UNIMAID – ASUU, Trade Unions Raise Alarm

BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Trade Unions in the University of Maiduguri have declared that the Federal Government is insensitive to the security threats by Boko Haram in the institution, warning that the government’s inaction on the current security situation is helping to boost the Boko Haram ideology.

Leader of the unions and Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Dani Mamman, who stated the Unions’position at a press conference in Maiduguri on Wednesday, also said; “Boko Haram proclaims western education as forbidden and the University of Maiduguri is at the forefront of championing western education in the country. So, for Boko Haram, sustained attacks on the university would attenuate the insurgents’ wild ideology.”

Mamman said ASUU, SSANU (Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities), NASU (Non Academic Staff Union), NATT (National Association of Academic Technologies), and Students Union Government (SUG) of the University were compelled to bring to public notice the precarious security situation and threats to life at UNIMAID.

He said the increasing Boko Haram attacks in the state recently shows the insurgents were regrouping again and therefore warned government to wake up to its responsibility.

Mamman also said the unions were particularly worried that neither the Minister of Education nor a Federal Government delegation has visited the university since January 16, 2017 first Boko Haram bombing on the campus which killed a professor of Veterinary Medicine, Prof. Aliyu Usman Mani.

According to him; “The government’s action reflected its insensitivity to the plight of the University, students and parents that lost loved ones. The government’s inaction also tends to support Boko Haram ideology against western education making the insurgents to keep the tempo of attacks on the campus, the latest being multiple explosions on June 25. That was the eight deadly attacks within five months.”

He further said that 70 professors and other staff that fled the university in the wake of incessant attacks have started returning only to be confronted with suicide bomb attacks even while peace was gradually returning to the troubled state.

The UNIMAID Unions’ leader therefore urged the Federal Government to build the perimeter fence at the varsity and approve the N2.8 billion requested by the University authority to procure modern security equipment to stop Boko Haram from executing “greater attacks” on the campus.

The Unions threatened to disrupt academic calendar of the University should the Federal Government fails to act on time.