The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has asked parents and guardians whose children/wards are are affected by the ongoing strike in government-owned tertiary institutions to “go and beg ASUU,” the Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off the lingering strike.
On February 14, 2022 ASUU declared a nationwide strike to protest the non-implementation of its demands by the federal government which includes release of the revitalisation funds for universities, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers, renegotiation of the ASUU-Federal Government 2009 agreement among others.
- Read also: ASUU extends strike by four weeks
- ASUU tackles NGIGE, says strike continues
- No concrete agreement with FG, strike not ending – ASUU
Keyamo who was recently appointed as the official spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign stated this while appearing on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today.
He said, “The moment they went on strike, we intervened, what is the manner again beyond that ? Even before the strike began, we called them to a meeting, what manner is more than that? It’s not like we left them to go on strike first and we were sleeping, as the talk started, they still went on strike.
“You can not allow one sector of the economy to hold you down and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion and our total income is around N6.1 trillion and we have roads to build, health centres and other sectors to take care of.
“I will tell the parents, everybody to go and beg ASUU like the President said the other time, those who know them should appeal to their sense of patriotism. The nation can not ground to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU”
Recall that Investogist reported on August 1, that ASUU has extended the ongoing strike by four weeks to “give Government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.”
“The Union wonders why it had taken five full months and needless muscle-flexing for government to come to the realisation of the need for honest engagement,” ASUU statement on the extension read in part.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
