The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called for equitable redistribution of the nation’s wealth to improve quality of lives of Nigerians as the nation celebrated the 2020 Democracy Day.
ASUU National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made the call on Friday in Ota, Ogun State.
The ASUU national president said that Democracy Day should be a day of reflection for Nigerians to have a rethink of where we are as a nation.
He said that the country’s leaders needed to rethink their roles in democratic governance in order to implement policies that would enhance the quality of lives of ordinary Nigerians.
According to him, Nigeria has a long way to go as 90 per cent of the nation’s wealth were being controlled by two per cent of the citizens.
Ogunyemi urged the Federal Government to “go back to the drawing board and define the type of democracy we want for the country.
“Is it a democracy that will redistribute wealth for an average Nigerian or continue making a few people richer at the expense of others?” he said.
The don stressed the need to put in place policies and programmes that could enhance the quality of lives of ordinary Nigerians.
According to him, social welfare is not a luxury in advanced societies where Nigeria copied her system of government from, as there is a limit to the amount of public wealth an individual can control.
The ASUU chairman urged Federal Government to place limit to public funds that an individual could access in the country.
“The nation needs to know how far our leaders had taken us in terms of developing and implementing pro-people policies.
“Our politicians has not been tolerant of the opposition as the nation has democracy without democrats,” the ASUU president said.