The federal government
is offering N30 billion as earned allowances to the striking university
lecturers in a bid to end the lingering strike, which has shut down academic
activities in the universities nationwide.
A top official from the
Federal Ministry of Education told THISDAY Thursday, that due to the dwindling
revenue base of the government, it was ready to offer N30 billion to the
striking lecturers under the auspices of Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU), to end the strike.
Government’s position is
believed to be a sincere approach in ending the strike in the midst of
dwindling revenue profile occasioned by oil theft and macro-economic measures
aimed at diversifying the economy.
While all the demands of
the striking lecturers had been resolved, the bone of contention had been
‘earned allowances’, which they have put at N87 billion.
According to our source,
the N30 billion, which the federal government was offering, was in the
conviction that considering the nation’s current revenue base, ASUU should make
some sacrifices and go back to work in the interest of the students and the
country at large.
He disclosed that the
government was desirous of a holistic and sustainable solution to the problems
bedeviling the entire education sector, adding that the focus is on infrastructural
development which the federal government had set up, Governor Gabriel Suswam, led
University Needs Implementation Committee to handle.
The NEEDS Implementation
Committee had announced on Tuesday, that N100 billion would be made available
to universities for infrastructure development. Government’s approach, he added, was on a specific, once-and-for-all solution
and wants every Nigerian, including the lecturers to make sacrifices and call
off the strike so that the students could resume academic work.
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