The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has heaped the blame for the lingering strike on Chris Ngige, the minister of labour and employment for not properly briefing President Muhammadu Buhari.
Emmanuel Osodeke, the national president of ASUU stated that Ngige is misinforming President Buhari about the union’s ongoing industrial action while answering questions on Channels TV programme, Sunrise Daily on Thursday, July 14, 2022.
“If the president had been properly briefed by the committee through the minister of education, I don’t think the president would have said enough is enough, go to your class while we are negotiating.
“It is the labour minister and his group that have gone to the president to tell him that we chased out his people and that we refused salaries.
“We are not aware of where their so-called figure arrives from. In all our agreement and discussion, we didn’t talk about 1.2 trillion or 2.4 trillion, or whatever. We didn’t.
“The ministry is churning out fake figures. We negotiated with the ministry of education, so wherever they got the documents is their business,” Osodeke said.
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Osodeke explained that the minister did not tell the president the truth about how the federal executives representing President Buhari chased away government officials during negotiations.
The ASUU president speaking on the television show stated that Ngige also churned out fake figures needed to meet the demand of the union.
Recall that ASUU went on strike on Monday, February 14, which was rolled over after the expiration of a30 day warning strike. And the industrial action is 152 days and still counting without any visible end to the impasse.
ASUU is demanding among other things that the federal government desist from implementing the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), which according to the lecturers negates the autonomy policy for the universities, and in its place endorses the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
Meanwhile, Orji Kalu, a senator representing Abia North constituency has appealed to the federal government to reopen negotiations with ASUU over the ongoing strike.
The former governor of Abia State in a statement he issued on Thursday, July 14 in Abuja urged the federal government to re-open negotiations with ASUU to salvage the disrupted academic calendar.
“Incessant strikes disrupt the academic calendar, encourage brain drain and contribute significantly to the poor quality of graduates in the country, with far-reaching implications on national development.
“The federal government should urgently take all necessary measures to open a realistic negotiation with ASUU to stop the strike and implement the signed agreements in the interest of our students, their parents, the education sector and the country.
“We must stop playing with the future of our youth,” he said.
