by Alexander O. Onukwe

The Our Mumu Don Do movement decided it was going to take a 21-day break after its #ResumeorResign protests met with sprinkles of violent pushback. Charly Boy had called on some famous Nigerians, particularly 2Face Idibia, that it was time for him to speak out.

Now, the group has decided that it would not have to observe the break because the President has returned to the country, and some other matters have become urgent and in need of protests to bring them up in the media conversation.

But why has it chosen to carry-out sit-outs to urge the return of the former Minister of Education, Diezani Alison-Madueke to the country, when there were arguably other issues which are of more immediate urgency and will rouse greater national attention?

The most prominent is certainly the strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities from the 13^th of August. Now into its second week, the downing of tools by all the lecturers in Nigeria’s Universities, with the exception of Ilorin and Ife, surely must be a setback for the general progress of the nation and it is reasonable to expect more outrage over the matter than is currently obtainable.

This being the third national ASUU strike in the last eight years – the previous two lasting a combined period of a full calendar year – surely our mumu should have reached its peak on that?

The EFCC has been on Diezani’s matter for close to two years now without any concrete progress achieved beyond seizures and forfeitures. And there is always the suspicion that even if a case were to be brought against her, the unpredictability and weaknesses of the judicial system in Nigeria could still see her come off all of this unscathed. In any case, fighting for the prosecution of one ‘corrupt’ official without plugging holes to prevent future diversion of funds is not a long-term solution.

It would seem rather more sustainable and in the broader interest of the future of the country that young people who should be in school do not channel the frustration of having to be away from the classroom into seeking side hustles that could see them follow undesirable paths.

While protesting the recurrence of this strike, there would be the need to put pressure on the Government to provide only but the best to its Universities if indeed it is serious and sincere about building a more prosperous nation. It is true that even the best educated could still become corrupt in Government, but that probability is lower than what is sure to obtain when young people are intentionally forsaken by their country.

Op-ed Editor