Garba Shehu, the spokesperson for the president, has urged parents to implore the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off their strike in order to reopen the country’s public universities.
Shehu criticized the current four-week strike extension and said that the administration was making an effort to comply with some of the lecturers’ demands.
Shehu claims that the president was fully committed to ending the ASUU strike when the industrial action was extended.
JUST IN: ASUU May Go On Strike In The Next 24 Hours
This was said by the presidential spokesman on Saturday in Abuja, outside of the 11th graduation ceremony of Glisten International Academy.
But he encouraged ASUU to give the Federal Government a chance to address the issues that sparked the strike.
Shehu said: “It came like a bolt in the sky. We are shocked because it came at a time the president is giving full commitment to resolving the ASUU strike and having the students and teachers back in the school.
“The extension, I believe, should not have been done because the spirit in which the government now is trying to resolve the problems of ASUU is such that there should also be a benefit of the doubt in favour of the government on the part of ASUU.
“The strike is unnecessarily extended and this should not have been the case.
See How Much ASUU Is Expected To Receive To Call Off Strike
“I want to advise parents to join the government in begging ASUU to end this strike, as the government is doing its part and parents are worried and they should start talking to ASUU.”
Shehu’s remarks come after Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, said that ASUU’s demands were unreasonable.
Keyamo said that despite cash problems and the need to address other areas of the economy, the government cannot borrow money in order to pay the striking ASUU members.
All interested parties should urge ASUU to change their position in the spirit of national interest, according to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
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