JONATHAN: ASUU STRIKE NO LONGER NECESSARY

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday repeated his call to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to suspend its eight-weeks old strike in the interest of Nigerians.

He made the appeal at the commissioning of some Federal government sponsored projects at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO).
Jonathan, who was represented by Minister of Education Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, said with the release of N30 billion to settle the lecturers’ demands, the strike was no longer necessary.
Jonathan said the earlier ASUU called off the strike the better. He urged the governing councils of universities to monitor the funds released for capital projects.
In his speech, Vice Chancellor of FUTO, Prof. Chigozie C.Asiabaka identified poor infrastructure as one of the challenges that confronted the school.
However, the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) ended in Owerri, Imo State with an appeal to the Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement it reached with ASUU.
In a communiqué at the end of their meeting, read by the president Dr. Fatima Abudulramaan, the principals said the implementation of the agreement was necessary to return the university teachers to the classroom.
The body regretted the suffering the Nigerian children are made to bear in the face of the strike.

DAILIES