ASUU insists on strike as FG releases N130bn

The Federal Government has agreed to inject about N130bn into the university system to shore up infrastructure and support the settlement of lecturers’ earned allowance.
This came as the striking lecturers insisted that the industrial action would continue.
Representatives of the government and the striking university teachers met on Monday in Abuja where issues on the strike topped the agenda of the meeting.
Although the Federal Government agreed to release the funds, the Academic Staff Union of Universities insisted that the offer did not meet the union’s  funding requirement.
The leader of the government negotiation team and Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, made this known to journalists on Monday after a meeting with the ASUU leadership in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

According to him, the Federal Government has sourced N100bn to boost infrastructure development in the nation’s universities.
He said, “The Federal Government has been able to harness about N100bn which Mr. President has agreed to approve from the first week of September.
“The infrastructure deficit in hostels, laboratories and libraries will be addressed. Some will be renovated while others will be constructed. Every university will be affected and each of the hostels will accommodate 1,200 students.”
Also, the SGF, Senator Pius Anyim, said all issues had been resolved except the unpaid allowances.
Anyim said the Federal Government had agreed to release N30bn to be paid according to the verifiable claims by the governing councils of each of the universities.
The President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, stated that the union would meet to take decision over the new development.
He said,  “If you remember the objective of going on this strike is to get government to implement the 2009 ASUU/FGN agreement and particularly to implement the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding we reached with the government in 2012.
“I want to say that at today’s meeting, we looked at all the issues in that MoU and it is clear to us that the Governor Suswam Committee that is working on the funding requirement for revitalising the university system, particularly on the implementation of the needs Assessment report, it has not really gone far in that aspect.”
Culled: Punchng