A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri has said members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will not embark on strike should presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar become president of Nigeria in 2023.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that ASUU embarked on strike on February 14 this year and only suspended it after eight months and non-academic staff embarked on theirs in March.
Omokri said Atiku is determined to improve Nigeria’s economy through education, by ensuring that education gets the highest sectoral allocation in the national budget.
He stated this on Thursday during an interview with Channel’s Television’s Politics Today.
“Atiku is determined to make sure that the youths are equipped with the skills that they need to employ and to be employable,” he said.
Lately, ASUU has accused the Federal Government of trying to break its ranks by selecting some medical lecturers for the payment of their withheld salaries, while other academic staff are left unattended to.
Specifically, the union said medical lecturers at the Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto have been paid seven months salaries, accusing the Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr Chris Ngige, of favouring his professional colleagues.
In a statement by the Chairperson, ASUU, UDUS, M. N Almustapha and the Secretary, S. A Sadiku, the union noted that such action would not augur well for the university system.
Speaking with Vanguard on Thursday, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the minister to order.