ASUU strike on N3tn agreement by past govt –Minister

Armstrong Bakam, Bauchi

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has blamed a previous administration for being responsible for the continuous strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

Although Adamu was not specific on which administration he was referring to, he said the government shouldn’t have entered into agreement with ASUU to pay them N1.3tn when it knew it couldn’t pay it.

He said this while answering a question asked him by a corp member on the persistent ASUU strike during a town hall meeting on security issues tagged, ‘Engaging the Youth and Communities,’ at the Multi-Purpose Indoor Sports Hall Complex Bauchi on Monday which was organized by the state government at the instance of the Federal Government.

Adamu said, “I do believe that while they were signing that agreement, they knew that it is not possible to implement it. There is just no place N1.3trn will come out from.

“I think the basic problem between the ASUU side and the government side has been deciding on what to do about this N1.3tnn. If a government appends its signature to an agreement, it is an agreement.”

The education minister said the government was not happy that the strike was still on.

“We are not happy that the calendars of our schools has been disrupted. But the fault is the government that signed to do what it knew it could not do.

“But I assure you that we are on verge of reaching an agreement and very, very soon we will reach an agreement with them,” he said.

Copyright PUNCH.