Senate President David Mark on Sunday said Nigeria needs spiritual intervention to end the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) since negations between the union and the Federal Government have broken down.
He said this at the 2nd plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Otukpo Benue State . He regretted suffering of striking universities who have been deprived of the stable academic calendar.
He said: “The culture of confrontation and conflict does not build harmony between and among people, therefore, we must always seek the culture of dialogue, reconciliation and forgiveness. We have a duty to work hard to overcome all barriers to peace.”
Mark said the state of insecurity in Nigeria was worrisome, even as he cautioned highly place Nigerians against making inflammatory statements capable of ruining the polity and that the purpose of religion was not for selfish purposes.
He said: “Religion is to unite and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to gather and not to scatter, to be just and not to be unjust. As Nigerians we should remain resolute and focused. As a people, we should continue to fast and pray. I acknowledge the fact that prayer without good work is dead. We should also embark on serious good work at all levels to ensure good governance and a better Nigeria.”
Also speaking on the ASUU strike, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State called on the Bishops to use the session to appeal to ASUU to shift ground as the Federal government has made reasonable concessions to their demands to give peace a chance and return students back to schools.