Education
ASUU strike won’t happen…There’s money, Ngige assures universities
Chris Ngige, minister of labour, says the strike threatened by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will not take place.
On Monday, ASUU issued a three-week ultimatum to the federal government to implement the earlier agreement reached with the union.
Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU national president, said the industrial action became necessary due to the failure of the federal government to implement the memorandum of action (MoA) it signed with the union upon which the last strike action was suspended.
“We are giving the federal government a three-week ultimatum. If after three weeks they don’t meet our demands, we will be going on strike,” he had said.
Speaking yesterday in an interview on Channels Television, Ngige said funds are available for universities.
“The strike will not happen. For one, I know that the funds to pay are there and the ministry of education has assured me that by tomorrow, they will emanate letters to make sure that the disbursement reaches the accounts of the various universities,” he said.
“We are not paying the unions directly, so it will get to the universities’ accounts.”
