The one-month warning strike embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), may last longer than expected as the federal government has now revealed that it doesn’t have funds to meet some of the union’s demands.
Speaking during an interview on Thursday, March 3, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige said the N1.3 trillion revitalization fund ASUU is clamoring for was a promise made to the union by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan when the country’s finances were stable, and they were able to pay only N200 billion borrowed from the coffers of TETFUND.
He explained that the current administration never promised to pay ASUU the remaining N1.1 trillion, and had told the union it cannot honor an agreement it wasn’t part of but promised to find a way to fund universities and revitalize infrastructure.
Ngige further revealed that the government was willing to renegotiate and has reconstituted a renegotiation team on the 2009 agreement. However, the union has vowed not to involve itself in any round of renegotiation saying it had since rounded off negotiations with the government concerning its demands.
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