Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has blamed a previous government for the incessant strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU).
The minister who was not specific with the past government he was talking about, however, kicked against its the agreement it entered with ASUU to pay them N1.3trilion, when it knew it couldn’t pay it.
Adamu said this while fielding questions from 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.
According to him, “I do believe that while they were signing that agreement, they knew that it is not possible for them to implement it. There is just nowhere 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 N1.3 trillion. If a government appends its signature to an agreement, it is an agreement,” he said.
He added that,the present administration is not happy that the strike has lingered for too long, noted that it is doing all it can to ensure students get back to class soonest.
“We are not happy that our campuses are closed, we are not happy that the calendar of 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 the verge of reaching an agreement and very, very soon, we will reach an agreement with them.”
Also responding to a question raised by a teacher, Adamu said the President has pledged to be place on allowance, anyone with intention of being trained as a teacher immediately after secondary school.
He said: “There is a pension scheme exclusively for teachers. All teachers’ children will be taught free in school. They won’t pay a single Kobo in the course of training their children.
“The government also approved special allowances for rural postings, like hardship allowance.”
