Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, says the Federal Government cannot shut down the country just to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Keyamo said this on Friday while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
The Minister, who noted that the government had done its best, appealed to parents to “beg” ASUU.
He said, “Should we go and borrow to pay N1.2 trillion yearly? You cannot allow one sector of the economy to hold you by the jugular and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion for overheads when our total income would be about N6.1 trillion. And you have roads to build, health centres to build, other sectors to take care of.
“Like the President said the other time, those who know them, appeal to their sense of patriotism. Let them go back to classes. They are not the only ones in Nigeria. They are not the only ones feeding from the Federal purse. The nation cannot grind to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU.”
ASUU had since February 14 first embarked on a four-week warning strike,which it extended by another two months on March 14, to allow the government to meet all of its demands. A 12-week extension was announced on May 9.
Last week, ASUU further extended the strike by one month, vowing that it would persist until its demands are met.
The union said the prolonged strike was as a result of the failure of the government to meet some demands such as the release of the revitalisation funds for universities, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers, renegotiation of the ASUU-Federal Government 2009 agreement, among others.
Another is the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). The academics have proposed an alternative payroll system, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
Since ASUU embarked strikes on the strike, stakeholders have been appealing to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to find a lasting solution to the lecturers’ action.