ASUU gives FG new condition to call off strike, requests for N200b from N4trn fuel subsidy

President, Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has said that the federal government has shown no readiness to address the prolonged ASUU strike that has forced university students in the country to stay at home.

The union president made this statement while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise show on Wednesday.

The ongoing ASUU strike began on February 14, 2022. The union is demanding for better condition of service as agreed by the federal government since 2009.

According to the union president, the government has addressed the issue of fuel subsidy with a budget of 4 trillion while it ignored the addressing issues of her university education.

He opined that if the government took only N200bn from the N4 trillion budget for subsidy, it would still have a whopping N3.8 trillion to address the matter where the University is challenged would come up with solutions to it.

The union president made this statement while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise show on Wednesday.

The ongoing ASUU strike began on February 14, 2022. The union is demanding for better condition of service as agreed by the federal government since 2009.

According to the union president, the government has addressed the issue of fuel subsidy with a budget of 4 trillion while it ignored the addressing issues of her university education.

He opined that if the government took only N200bn from the N4 trillion budget for subsidy, it would still have a whopping N3.8 trillion to address the matter where the University is challenged would come up with solutions to it.

Prof. Osodeke argued that the Nigerian academic intelligentsia can provide all the solutions needed to boost the country as he called on the government to challenge Nigerian University lecturers to provide solutions to nagging issues it has identified.

He claimed that it took the Nigerian University only three months to locally produce University Transparent and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which performed at 97.3 percent to replace the foreign Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

He said the huge resources paid for IPPIS such funds would have served the Nigerian University and challenged the government to always task the Nigerian Universities for solutions to identified challenges.

According to him, the Nigerian University can provide a refinery within three years, as part of measures to rid the nation of the loss incurred on subsidy.