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The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has accused Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment of brandishing fake figures that don’t represent the demand of the union.
The lecturers also said that Ngige was misinforming President Muhammadu Buhari about the ongoing negotiations between ASUU and the federal government. According to ASUU, the President would not have used a different approach instead of his “Enough is enough” comment if he had been properly briefed.
Recall that Buhari while speaking in his country home, Daura warned that the strike would have “generational consequences on families, the educational system and future development of the country.”
Reacting, Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President, while speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday said, “If the President had been properly briefed by the committee through the Minister of Education(Alhaji Adamu Adamu), I don’t think the President would have said, “enough is enough.” He would have said go to your class while we are negotiating.
“It is the labour minister and his group that would have gone to the President to tell him that if we chase out his people, we’ll refuse salary.
“We are not aware of where their so-called figure arrived from. In all our agreements and discussions, we didn’t talk about 1.2 trillion or 2.4 trillion, or whatever. We didn’t.
“We didn’t calculate the quantum of what we would need. We calculated what each member of our union will earn.
“If this man who is telling you this figure can tell a lie that ASUU chased out his members from the negotiation table, why would he not tell a lie about the figure?
“The ministry (Labour and Employment) is churning out fake figures. We negotiated with the Ministry of Education. So, wherever they got the documents is their business.”
See Also: Strike: FG May Take ASUU To Court If Reconciliation Fails – Ngige
Meanwhile, workers in the aviation sector have threatened to embark on a solidarity strike with ASUU if the labour dispute is not resolved.
The workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), said the strike had done incalculable damage to the education of Nigerian children, especially those from poor homes.
A statement by its General Secretary, Ocheme Aba, said, “ This situation is worsened by the laiz-a-fez attitude the Federal Government has adopted towards resolving the imbroglio brought about, in the first place, by the government’s failure to play its part in the agreement with ASUU.”
Source: The Nation