ASUU Strike: ASUU cannot blackmail us to borrow - Keyamo

Image: Channels TV

Festus Keyamo, SAN, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has called Nigerian parents and guardians whose children and wards are affected by the ongoing shutdown of academic activities in government-owned universities to beg the striking lecturers to call off the lingering strike.

Since the commencement of the strike, stakeholders had asked the administration of President Buhari to resolve the strike and increase the funding of tertiary institutions.

In a meeting with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, and his colleague, the President issued a directive to his cabinet members to ensure a speedy solution to the strike.

However, three weeks after the President’s directive was given, there have not been much progress in ending the strike.

Keyamo was on Channels Television recently on a programme of the station; he said that the government had done its best and appealed to parents to “beg” ASUU.

“The moment they went on strike, we intervened, what is the manner again beyond that? Even before the strike began, we called them to a meeting, what manner is more than that? It’s not like we left them to go on strike first, and we were sleeping, as the talk started, they still went on strike.

“You can not allow one sector of the economy to hold you down and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion, and our total income is around N6.1 trillion, and we have roads to build, health centres, and other sectors to take care of.

“I will tell the parents, everybody to go and beg ASUU like the President said the other time, those who know them should appeal to their sense of patriotism. The nation can not ground to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU”.

Source: punchng.com

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