Strike: Buhari Says It’s Amazing How ASUU Stayed Out Of Classrooms For Eight Months

President Muhammadu Buhari has described as “amazing” the failure of the lecturers under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to suspend their eight-month strike.

According to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President stated this on Tuesday during a meeting with the 36 state governors at the State House, Abuja.

The president expressed displeasure over the ongoing ASUU strike saying the varsity “lecturers had not taken into consideration the larger challenges facing the country.”

“Government conceded something. The problem is that they refused to look at the problem of the whole country.

“The Minister of Labour is working hard at it. It is amazing how ASUU will stay out of classrooms for so long. There’s a need for our elites to understand the challenges facing the country,” the president added.

KanyiDaily recalls that ASUU has been on strike since March 2020 over demands for more funding for public universities and renegotiation of the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.

The academic union also opposed the IPPIS preferred by the government for payment of its workers’ salaries and developed the UTAS as an alternative to the government’s platform.

However, the federal government had since agreed to exempt ASUU members from enrollment in IPPIS, but the union said it is consulting with its members on the next line of action.