Buhari Appeals To ASUU To End Ongoing Strike
Toscad News By Ngozi Anna Akunne
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to consider the plight of students and call off the ongoing strike.
The President also urged students affected by the strike, to exercise patience as the government is striving to address the nagging issues in the nation’s university system, within the ambit of the resources available.
He made this appeal at the 19th National Productivity Day and the conferment of the National Productivity Order of Merit Award, NPOM, on 48 eminent Nigerians and organisations in both the public and private sectors, for their high productivity, hard work and excellence.
President 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 other university-based labour unions.
He noted that ignoring the productivity dimension of education would endanger the prosperity of future generations, with widespread repercussions for poverty and social exclusion.
Similarly, the President said, the government has also approved a special salary scale for teachers in Basic and Secondary schools, including provisions for rural posting allowance, science teachers allowance and peculiar allowance, while prioritizing timely promotion and prompt payment of salaries.
Highlighting notable achievements in the education sector including the drastic reduction of the number of out-of-school children from 10.1million in 2019 to 6.9 million in 2020, automatic employment for graduates of education, review of the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years, the President said more would still be needed to be done.
Furthermore, the President said the reintroduction of bursary award to education students in universities and Colleges of Education, came with assurance of automatic employment upon graduation, as well as payment of stipends to Bachelor of Education students.
About The Author
