The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other allied unions that are on strike have been urged by President Muhammadu Buhari to end their action so that students can return to their classes.
The statement was made by President Buhari on Friday, August 12, at a special convocation event held by the University of Maiduguri to confer an honorary doctorate degree on business tycoon Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi.
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President Buhari was represented by his chief of staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.
The President said;
I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the ASUU to reconsider its stance to call off their 7 months old strike, as students and their parents are desirous to see that schools are reopened.
The nation cannot afford long interruption of higher education of the youths and wouldn’t undermine the development of the nation’s human capital in a strictly competitive world.
He continued by pointing out that the appeal was made in light of the desire of students to return to the classroom and the requests of their parents for the reopening of the closed universities.
While many administrations have talked about diversifying the economy since the beginning of democracy in 1999, only the current administration has actually done so, President Buhari said.
Despite the security challenges, he added, his administration has made tremendous advancements in the area of security, as evidenced by the event held in Maiduguri.
Appeal To ASUU
Festus Keyamo, SAN, the state minister for labour and employment, on Friday, August 5, had urged Nigerian parents and guardians to urge the Academic Staff Union of Universities to end its protracted strike on behalf of their parents who are now unable to attend classes at government-run universities.
The nationwide strike was called by ASUU on Monday, February 14, 2022.
The union claims that the government disregarded a number of its demands, including the release of funds for university revitalization, the payment of earned allowances for university lecturers, the implementation of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers, and the renegotiation of the ASUU-Federal Government 2009 agreement.
