The Federal Government has appealed to officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU to exercise moderation in their demands from the government.
Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja, said that the poor funding issues of universities came from the initial agreement made by ASUU with the Yar’Adua led government in 2009.
Adamu said that the Yar’Adua administration presented those good conditions to ASUU when the economy was significantly buoyant.
In his words:-
“The issues necessitate this strike that dates back to 2009 when the then government of the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua signed an agreement with ASUU on the funding of federal universities.
“The agreement provided funding of universities to the tune of N1.3tn over a period of six years. It is instructive to know that Nigeria was experiencing an oil boom at that time. it was therefore expected that the government would meet the terms of the agreement.
“We exited recession not too long ago, and we are just beginning to recover from the consequences of low oil prices, which are happily begging to pick up, if this trend continues, definitely, the education sector will also improve.
“Against this background, I want to appeal to all parents, students and in particular ASUU women and men to continue to exercise restraint in terms of their response to the plight of the education sector. We must also be mindful that there are other sectors with similar competing need”
