ASUU Strike To Be Suspended Within 24 Hours

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday said the ongoing strike by university lecturers would be suspended within 24 hours once the new resolutions reached with President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 were accepted. The union, however, described the statement credited to the Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, that ASUU was making new outrageous demands as “untrue and absolute lie.” The union said it asked President Jonathan to facilitate the endorsement of resolutions reached with him and signed by high ranking government official preferably the Attorney-General of the Federation but not a permanent secretary. ASUU said a representative of the body including the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulwahid Omar, would stand as witnesses. The union said it wanted the N200 billion agreed upon as 2013 revitalisation fund for public universities to be warehoused with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and disbursed to the benefiting universities. ASUU’s position was conveyed by the union National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola Aremu, while speaking with The Nation in an interview in Ibadan on Wednesday. He said the union appreciated the intervention of President Jonathan but noticed that some of the resolutions reached with the President were not included in the letter sent to the union. According to him, the supervising Minister of Education was economical with the truth by not telling Nigerians that apart from the N30 billion earned allowances released for university staff, the government was yet to release the N100 billion claimed to have been released.