The
federal government on Wednesday appealed to primary and secondary
school teachers not to embark on strike in solidarity with striking university
lecturers. The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, on
Wednesday also disclosed that 80 per cent of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s demands had been met by Federal
Government.
Mr.
Wike, who stated these in a meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Union
of Teachers (NUT) in Abuja, said the yet-to-be resolved issues were those of
earned allowances. He
said that the other unresolved issue was the N400 billion annual capital
expenditure to universities demanded by ASUU.
“The
N400 billion they are demanding is not part of federal budget or Tertiary
Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention.
“And
out of the N92 billion earned allowances demanded by ASUU, government has
offered N30 billion to them for a start,’’ he said.
According
to the minister, ASUU is considering the offer and had asked to be given
untilThursday to enable it meet with its branches for a resolution.
“So,
the purpose of this meeting is to tell you (NUT) how far we have gone because
of the reports and the letter we got from the union that you are going on a
solidarity strike with ASUU,’’ he said.
Mr.
Wike also apologised to the NUT for his comments on Monday that the
union had no business going on a solidarity strike with ASUU strike, saying he
spoke “unofficially’’.
Also
speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu, appealed to the
NUT not to go on the proposed strike as it would only complicate issues.
Mr.
Wogu said that NUT might not have been briefed appropriately on government’s
efforts to resolve the crisis with ASUU and so appealed to the union to embark
on the planned sympathy strike.
“One
thing that is clear is that the Federal Government has started the
implementation of the 2009 agreement. The matter can still be resolved,’’ he
said.
In
his response, the National President of NUT, Michael Olukoya, said teachers,
under the umbrella of NUT were concerned with the lingering ASUU strike that
was threatening the collapse of the education sector.
Mr.
Olukoya said that all stakeholders should come together and explore ways of
ending the crisis.
He
advised both ASUU and the Federal Government to “put Nigeria first’’ in their
negotiations and shun the idea of “buck passing’’.
The
NUT boss also called for the review of the conditions for accessing the
intervention fund as the stringent conditions was preventing the institutions
from benefiting from the fund.
He
said that NUT was not threatening to go on the solidarity strike in the
interest of ASUU, but in the overall interest of Nigerians.
(NAN)
Source: Premium Times
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