The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu he has been given go ahead by President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene on the lingering strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Tinubu made this known while meeting with members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Osogbo, the Osun state capital.
Tinubu, DAILY GIST gathered had a meeting with the National Association of Nigerian students(NANS) in Osogbo in their bid to amicably resolve the ongoing ASUU strike.
He promised to intervene in the lingering ASUU strike and ensure a lasting solution.
“We initially thought of using back channels to engage the leadership of ASUU but now President Buhari has thrown down the Gauntlet. He has even shown his lamentation in the last 48 hours and as a result of that he had left the job open for our intervention,” the APC presidential candidate said.
Buhari had during the Sallah holidays in a statement issued by his media aide Garba Shehu, said, “Truly, enough is enough for keeping students at home.”
But ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke snapped back the president retort, asking him to action the report of the committee he detailed to negotiate with them. Mr Osodeke maintained that the Buhari regime was responsible for the prolonged strike
However Tinubu promised that the lingering ASUU strike would soon be called off and asked the university students to prepare for their resumption back to class.
The senior special assistant to the Lagos state government on new media, Jubril A. Gawat also made this disclosure in a tweet on his Twitter page, on Wednesday.
It was gathered that, Tinubu will meet ASUU in coming days in a bid to resolve the lingering strike.
ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke had said the union is waiting for a positive response from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, noting that it’s members are ready to resume immediately if federal government responds to their demands.
Osodeke pointed out that the federal government is responsible for the strike action, adding that as soon as the government meets their demands, the striking lecturers are ready to resume immediately.
DAILY GIST reported that ASUU had commenced nationwide strike on February 14th 2022, citing different demands which the FG had failed to meet as its reasons.
Some of the demands include, payments of salary arrears, better working conditions, renegotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement, payment of earned academic allowances, funds for the revitalization of public universities, promotion arrears, and poor funding of state universities.
Other tertiary institution unions also on strike include the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
