Former Kaduna Central Senator and political critic, Shehu Sani, has openly made suggestions on ways to end the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
Shehu Sani had reiterated that the money spent on politics in Nigeria can easily meet the demands of ASUU.
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ASUU had been on strike since February 2022 over the Federal Government’s inability to meet a 2019 agreement. The Federal Government had refused to allow ASUU to use their own generated payment platform, University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAS, among other demands.
Amid the prolonged strike, President Muhammadu Buhari had urged ASUU to call off its industrial action.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, Buhari had said “truly, enough is enough” for keeping Nigerian students at home.
Reacting, Sani tweeted: “If you can calculate what is spent on politics,you will realise that this country can easily afford to meet the financial demands of ASUU with regards to our public university system.”
In a previous report, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said the Federal Government, and not its members, are responsible for the union’s prolonged strike which began in February this year.
It, therefore, called on Nigerians to ask the government when it will sign the agreement reached at the just concluded renegotiation meeting.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had on Monday told striking lecturers to consider the future generation and resume work, saying “enough is enough for keeping students at home.”
However, ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview with The PUNCH, urged Nigerians to ask the government when it would attend to the union’s demands.
He said, ‘We are waiting for the government after the renegotiation meeting. We have not heard anything from them.
‘It will be a month on July 16, 2022 since they met with us. Nigerians should ask them when they will ask us to come and sign the report/agreement of the renegotiation meeting.
‘After all the promises they made, by July 16, 2022, this month, it will be one month and these young Nigerians are languishing at home doing nothing.’