… says ‘I presided over the meeting with the lecturers alongside my VP, SGF, ministers, others’
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday, recalled how his administration resolved a four-month old strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities within a day.
Jonathan spoke in Abuja during the 70th birthday celebration of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah. The event was organised by The Kukah Centre.
ASUU embarked on an indefinite strike since February 14, 2022 over irreconcilable differences with the Federal Government.
But explaining how his administration successfully handled similar situation, Jonathan said, “The society we are managing is complex, now we are talking about ASUU strike. During my time too, ASUU had four months of strike; different committees were meeting and meeting and nothing was working. I said how can our children stay out of school for four months? So, I had to call a meeting of all the leadership of ASUU.
“I presided over the meeting with my vice president, the Attorney General was there. I said that that night we must solve the problem. The Attorney General was there, Secretary to the Government of the Federation was there, the ministers of education were there, the labour ministers were there the finance ministers, everybody that has to do with it.
“And I thought that my being there would help us to do things quickly. But we spent the whole night, before we finished like 5:30am Before we concluded and the strike was called off, so there were issues.”
The former president also noted that inspite of Bishop Kukah’s friendship with leaders, also bash them anytime he feels they are not doing some things right, including himself.
