The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has on Thursday, November 5, 2020, slammed President Muhammadu Buhari over what it described as irresponsive posture by the President to the lingering strike, future of education, and youth in the nation.
This was also as it accuses the Ministers of Labour and Employment, Education and Accountant General of the Federation of frustrating the ASUU and Federal Government’s agreement to bring about an end to the seven months old strike.
Mahmud M. Lawan, the Kano zonal coordinator of the union, made this known while addressing journalists on the lingering strike in the country.
According to him, “the Kano Zone of ASUU is compelled to, unfortunately, call a spade a spade on the current prolonged impasse between the Federal Government and the union.
“It is noteworthy for the patriotic people of Nigeria to know that the union has noticed that the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment which is supposed to serve in conciliatory capacity has instead, become a government propaganda machine throughout the engagement and has woefully failed in its mandate to mediate dispassionately.
“Worse in performance in this matter is the office of Minister of Education who has failed to mediate adequately between the union and the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The most unfortunate distraction is the use of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF to frustrate all the previous ASUU-FGN agreements reached so far.
“The Zone is equally worried on the irresponsive posture of the office of the President on the future of education and youth in our dear nation,” Lawan said.
The Union body also accused the government of the use of hunger, starvation, and deprivation by withholding their salaries to forcefully enrolled it members in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, which it vowed to consistently reject.
The Zonal Coordinator however called on the Federal Government to instead pay it, members, through a software locally developed, University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAs, and also revitalize the universities to bring to an end the lingering strike.
Source: Vanguard
