The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has on Monday, blamed a previous administration for the continuous strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Although Adamu was not specific on which administration he was referring to,he said that the government should not have entered into an agreement with ASUU, to pay them N1.3 trillion, when it knew it could not pay it.
He said this while answering a question asked by a Corps Member, on the persistent ASUU strike, during a Town Hall meeting on Security issues tagged:‘Engaging the Youth and Communities’, at the Multi-Purpose Indoor Sports Hall Complex, in Bauchi, which was organised by the State Government, at the instance of the Federal Government.
He said that the insolvable problem that had resulted in incessant strikes by ASUU. was that “a government in this country went and sat down with ASUU, and agreed on some conditions that it would pay Universities N1.3 trillion’.His words:“I do believe that while they were signing that agreement, they knew that it is not possible for them to implement it. There is just nowhere N1.3 trillion will come out from.
“I think the basic problem between the ASUU side and the government side, has been deciding on what to do about this N1.3 trillion. If a government appends its signature to an agreement, it is an agreement.”The Education Minister stated that the President Buhari government is not happy that the strike is still on, promising however, that an agreement would soon be reached by the government and ASUU.
He added: “We are not happy that our campuses are closed, we are not happy that the calendar of Schools has been disrupted. But the fault is the government that signed to do what it knew it could not do.“But I assure you that we are on the verge of reaching an agreement, and very, very soon, we will reach an agreement with them.”More news later…