The federal government says it has rejected the academic staff union of universities’ (ASUU) request to pay their salaries for the period they were on strike as a condition for calling off the six-month old strike.
The Education Minister, Adamu Adamu made the announcement at the Presidential Villa during the 47th State House Ministerial briefing, which was organised by the Presidential Communications Team.
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The Minister of Education presented his scorecard and highlighted the accomplishments of his ministry during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He claimed that in the last seven years, the federal government has spent more than six trillion naira on capital and recurrent expenditure.
According to him, President Buhari is the only person in Nigerian history who has invested the most in education.
But it appears the current realities in the sector outweighs the lofty achievements recorded under the leadership of the minister of education.
Students of government owned tertiary institutions are not in school because university lecturers are at loggerheads with the federal government.
The strike which started on the 14th of February is the fifth time university lecturers will down tools in the last seven years.
Both the federal government and striking lecturers have been heavily criticised for their failure to find a middle ground.
The minister of education says the federal government has out rightly rejected ASUU’s demand to be paid salaries for the period they were out of work as a condition to call off the strike.
But the minister is hopeful that soon the impasse between striking lecturers and the federal government will be resolved soon.
He said the lecturers should be responsible for compensating the students for the academic time lost during the strike.
