New demands: Education minister, Wike lied against us – ASUU

IBADAN - STRIKING members of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,
have called on Nigerians to disregard the
comments made by the Minister of
Education, Nyesom Wike that the union was
making new outrageous demands, saying it
was a blatant lie.
ASUU said: "We are not making fresh
demands. In fact, the NEC of the union
would have suspended the strike, but the
concerns of our congresses were that many
of the things agreed to with Mr. President
during the November 4 meeting him were
not included in the letter signed by a
permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry
of Education, Dr. Mark Nwobiala."
The union also advised President Goodluck
Jonathan to expedite action on the
endorsement of resolutions reached with
him.
Such resolutions, the academic union
insisted must be signed by high ranking
government official possibly the Attorney-
General of the Federation.
While warning that the resolutions must not
be signed by the Permanent Secretary, ASUU,
through its National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola
Aremu said the N200 billion agreed upon as
2013 revitalisation fund for public
universities should be kept and disbursed to
concerned universities by the Central Bank
of Nigeria.
Dr. Aremu, who said this, yesterday, while
speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, faulted
the Education Minister, saying he failed to
tell Nigerians that apart from the N30billion
earned allowances released for university
staff, the government was yet to release the
N100billion it announced earlier.
To him, the strike could be called off within
24 hours once the observed omissions were
corrected and reflected in the new
resolution.
"They are interested in wasting the time and
lives of Nigerians. What we observed does
not require an additional kobo effect. The
letter does not include non-victimisation
clause. This is a routine when you negotiate
any agreement. There is nothing that talks
about renegotiation. We have now asked that
it be included in the resolution,” he said.