ASUU DEMANDS WILL CRIPPLE GOVT – FG

The Federal Government has said that the nation will
shut down if all the demands by striking university
lecturers were to be met.
Information Minister Labaran Maku stated this in
Abuja yesterday while addressing State House
correspondents after the Federal Executive Council
(FEC) meeting.
He was specifically reacting to why the government
was yet to reach a compromise with the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) amidst its claim of
spending huge resources on the development of
tertiary education in the country.
Maku appealed to the ASUU to have a rethink on its
demands and understand that there were many
competing demands from other sectors.
He said the huge funds spent to restore normalcy in
some hitherto crisis-torn parts of the North could
have been used to develop the educational sector.
“If we say we will not work until every particular
problem we face in this country is resolved, then, I am
sure there is no sector that will work. If we all insist
that every sector’s problem must be completely
solved, that we will down tools and that we will not
work, then, the country will stop working,” he said.
“We are partners of the ASUU. We are friends. They
are our patriots, and we understand the critical role
that the universities teachers are playing in creating a
new society that we are hoping to have. But at the
same time, this is a reality question that we need to
look at and we have to put the nation first.
“I know that all of us desire more from the system,
but the truth is that there are limitations and from the
limitations we have, we believe that the ASUU really
needs to do rethink and ensure that we reopen our
universities because really, we are feeling the pain of
our children being at home and this, indeed, is
completely avoidable,” Maku said.