By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, offered sympathies to university students who have locked out of school by the union’s strike.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Ota, Ogun State, he said the students were suffering for Nigeria’s future and education system.
Osodeke was reacting to the N34 billion released by the federal government for payment of minimum wage consequential adjustment.
He assured them that they were not being punished but were paying the price for a good education system in the country.
The President stated: “ASUU sympathises with them, and we believe that with what is going on, if we continue with the struggle, we will have an education system where Nigerian students will have the same lecture rooms with their foreign counterparts,” Osodeke said.
The ASUU president said they would call off the strike when the Federal Government attends to their demands, and further urged the government to do the needful as the N34 billion released was not part of their demands.
The Federal Government on Tuesday released N34 billion for the payment of consequential adjustment for minimum wage of workers in the education system.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, over improved welfare package, better working conditions and the implementation of various labour agreements signed with the federal government between 2009 and 2020.