The Federal Government has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to suspend its ongoing strike. FG recently revealed that it has met every single request made by the union and given it a formal counter-proposal.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief today, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa said that the government has engaged ASUU repeatedly since he took office, and the union has no justification for the industrial action.
According to him, claims by ASUU that the government has been slow or unwilling to respond to the union’s demands are incorrect, and it currently looks like, despite the FG’s efforts to negotiate in good faith, the union is determined to go on strike regardless.
He stated that 50 billion naira has already been paid by the government for academic allowance, but the FG’s good gestures have been all to no avail.
“We have addressed every single request by ASUU; there is no need for this strike, and we are pleading with them to go back to school.
I can tell you today, literally all the demands of ASU have been met. So I do not see any reason why ASU has gone on this strike.
We had feelings that, despite us negotiating with them in good faith, truthfully, they were determined to go on this strike. Even from Friday, I’ve been getting text messages that ASUU has decided to go on strike. And when you do that, when you predetermine your action, despite every goodwill, all gestures of the government to you, what do you really want?
We’ve literally addressed every single issue that ASUU is requesting. The areas of their end academic allowance, we’ve paid 50 billion,” he said.
He further assured students and parents that FG is doing everything possible to avert the disruptive strike.
Tunji Alausa concluded by listing key interventions by the Tinubu administration thus far, including a N683 billion infrastructure allocation for federal tertiary institutions in the 2025 budget, meant for rehabilitating hostels, lecture theatres and laboratories.
“Let me reassure our students nationwide that the federal government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, will do everything humanly possible to keep you in school.
I’m going to use this medium to plead with ASUU again to shelve this strike. There’s literally no need for this strike,” he added.
