NASS, FG Plea ASUU to Go Back to Classroom

The leadership of the National Assembly, NASS, and Federal Government, yesterday, appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off the 7-week old industrial strike action they embarked upon.

The NASS and FG made the plea after a meeting with Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of public universities in Abuja.

They pleaded that the FG has made offers and commitment to necessitate the resumption of academic activities in the nation’s public universities.

According to Senate Chairman on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, “The Senate Committee has always sought the required fund for our nation’s universities.

We plead with ASUU for immediate end of the strike. We want to plead with lecturers to be more sensitive to their scale of priorities especially in the area of education and timely implementations of agreements. The present ASUU strike must end. It is time for the nation to take the bull by the horn”.

Chairman House Committee on Education, Honourable Aminu Suleiman said, “I want to commend all those who have fought for the proper funding of our universities in the country. The Federal Government have also taken position to identify the needs of all our Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education to stop this problem once and for all.

“It is gratifying to know that government has shifted grounds and it is also in our position to passionately appeal to the aggrieved members of ASUU in the interest of the system to also make concession so that students can resume school”.

He noted, “We always agree to disagree we can always disagree without disrupting the system. We must appreciate that by prolonging this strike we are doing more harm to the system and causing more problems for the country in general.

What government has done is quite in line with the legislative agenda which we set out for ourselves as members of House of Representatives. No sacrifice is too much in ensuring the development of the sector”.

The SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, said the FG has already demonstrated sufficient commitment to the implementation of 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan has set N100 billion to develop infrastructure in 61 universities and N30 billion to support the university councils in settling the earned allowances.

The SGF therefore appealed to the university teachers to call of the two months old strike.