It seems Nigerian students are in for a long stay at home as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected offers made by the federal government, making fresh demands.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Tuesday, said the labor dispute with the university teachers was on the verge of being resolved as the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance presented evidence that N15.4billion had been released to public universities.
Speaking on earned academic allowances, Ngige said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved N20billion to offset arrears of the 2009 to 2012 verified earnings by university teachers.
However, ASUU president, Biodun Ogunyemi, speaking with Premium Times on Saturday, said that members of the union across various campuses and zones, upon reviewing the offers made by the government rejected it.
He said, “Our members have rejected tokenism with respect to outstanding revitalization fund of N1.1 trillion. They are insisting that government should release at least one tranche of N220 billion spread over four quarters of 2019.
“On earned academic allowances, our members said government’s proposed amount out of the verified balance should not be less than the total amount released last time, while evidence of mainstreaming the allowances into the 2019 budget should be shown. Also, the timeline should be attached to the payment of the balance of the arrears.
“The revitalization fund and earned academic allowances are the two critical areas on which our members feel strongly about. They expect necessary adjustments on the part of government before they can reconsider their decision on the ongoing strike action.”