The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has today begged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to consider the plight of students and call off the ongoing strike.
The President also urged students in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions to exercise patience as the government strives to address the nagging issues in the nation’s university system within the ambit of the resources available.
He made the appeal at the 19th National Productivity Day and the conferment of the National Productivity Order of Merit Award to 48 eminent Nigerians and organisations in both the public and private sectors, for their high productivity, hard work, and excellence.
This was contained in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, titled, ‘At National Productivity Day Awards, President Buhari appeals to ASUU to call off strike’.
Buhari recalled that he had earlier directed the Chief of Staff, Hon. Ministers of Labour and Employment, Education, Finance, Budget and National Planning to immediately bring all parties to the negotiation table to again critically look at the grey areas in the demands of ASUU and in fact all other University-based labour unions.
On the theme of this year’s celebration ‘‘Achieving Higher Productivity through Improved Education System,’’ the President pledged that the Federal Government would continue to do everything possible to uplift the standard of the educational system in the country.
He added that his administration recognised that the future of any nation is contingent on the standard of its educational system.
‘‘Therefore, if we desire to transform Nigeria into a competitive, strong, vibrant, productive and sustainable economy, improving our educational system should be accorded the highest priority.’’
This is coming after ASUU further extended the strike by 3 months earlier this week.
