Adamu blames past governments for persistent ASUU strike

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has blamed past governments for the continuous strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)

Although Adamu was not specific on which administration he was referring to, he said government should not have entered into an agreement with the university teachers to pay them N1.3trilion when it knew it couldn’t pay it.

Adamu, at a town hall meeting tagged: “Engaging the youth and communities” said the main cause of the incessant strike by ASUU was government’s agreement with the union to pay universities N1.3 trillion.

“I believe while government was signing that agreement, they knew it was not possible for them to implement it. There is just nowhere N1.3trn will come out from. I think the basic problem between ASUU and the government has been what to do about this N1.3 trillion. If a government appends its signature to an agreement, it is an agreement,” Adamu said.

Adamu expressed regrets that the strike was still on, promising, however, that an agreement would soon be reached with the aggrieved lecturers.

He said: “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.”
While responding to a question concerning teachers and better pay, Adamu said the President has pledged to be paying anyone who intends to be 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. Government has also approved special allowances for rural postings, like hardship allowance.”