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The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has given the minister of education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, two weeks to resolve issues of contention regarding the strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The President gave the directive on Tuesday at a meeting with the minister and other relevant agencies.
Buhari summoned the meeting to receive a briefing from the government representatives on why the strike had spanned for so long.
The President, after hearing from the relevant ministries and departments, ordered the Minister of Education to ensure that the issues were resolved within two weeks and report back to him.
The PUNCH gathered that apart from the directive to the education minister, the President had instructed that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, must be in attendance at all the meetings to resolve the crisis in due time.
Present at the meeting were Adamu, Ngige, and Mustapha, as well as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta; and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabuez.
ASUU had embarked on a nationwide strike action since February 14, 2022.
The union is on strike over the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System of the government as the payment system for university staff members.
Also, issues of poor funding of universities, non-payment of salaries and allowances of some staff, as well as the failure of the government to pay earned academic allowance to lecturers, among others are part of the complains of ASUU.
The PUNCH reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress declared a nationwide protest for July 26 and 27 in solidarity with the lecturers.
Student bodies and right groups have also backed the NLC’s call to action, pledging to join the workers’ union at the barricade.
