President Muhammadu Buhari has once again appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off the ongoing strike.
Buhari said that it was counterproductive for the university lecturers to continue with the strike as its negotiations with the Federal Government had gone far.
This was made known by Buhari at the maiden Special Convocation Ceremony and conferment of Honourary Degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Maiduguri on Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi, Chairman, Oriental Energy Resources Limited on Friday in Maiduguri.
What they are saying
The Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Ibrahim Gambari, who represented the President said, “It’s more appropriate that we say something about this ASUU strike because we are celebrating Alhaji Indimi who is celebrated hugely for the advancement of quality education not only in this country.
“In this regard, I want to convey President Muhammadu Buhari’s call for ASUU to call off their strike and return to the classroom.’’
Buhari, according to Gambari, said that such prolonged interruption of education is undermining the nation’s development of human capital.
Speaking at the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Professor Aliyu Shugaba, explained that the maiden special convocation was to give honour to Indimi for his contribution to educational development at home and abroad.
He also lent his voice to the lingering industrial action by university lecturers, urging the Federal Government, ASUU and other unions in the university to resolve the ongoing strike to save the education sector.
What you should know
- The ASUU had on February 14, 2022, embarked on a 4-week total and comprehensive strike to press home their unresolved demands on the federal government.
- This was further extended by another 12 weeks on May 9 to give the government enough time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues after an extension on March 14 due to an alleged lack of seriousness on the part of the federal government.
- President Muhammadu Buhari had as part of his intervention, on July 19 directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to proffer a solution to the challenge and report back to him in 2 weeks.
- However, ASUU remained adamant in its resolve to press on with its demand as it once again on August 1 extended its ongoing strike by another 4 weeks to give the Federal Government more time to resolve outstanding issues in its dispute with it.
- Some top government officials in their recent statements hinted that the Federal Government will be unable to meet the financial demands of the university lecturers as it was impossible for the government to borrow about N1.2 trillion to end the almost 6 months strike.
