Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), says the open lamentation of President Muhammadu Buhari on the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has “opened doors” for him to urgently intervene.
Mr Tinubu spoke while meeting with members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Osogbo, the Osun state capital.
“We initially thought of using back channels to engage the leadership of ASUU but now President Buhari has thrown down the Gauntlet. He has even shown his lamentation in the last 48 hours and as a result of that he had left the job open for our intervention,” the APC leader added.
Mr Buhari had during the Sallah holidays in a statement issued by his media aide Garba Shehu, said, “Truly, enough is enough for keeping students at home.”
But ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke snapped back the president retort, asking him to action the report of the committee he detailed to negotiate with them. Mr Osodeke maintained that the Buhari regime was responsible for the prolonged strike
Mr Tinubu, seeking to curry the students’ favour, promised that the lingering ASUU strike would soon be called off and asked the university students to prepare for their resumption back to class.
ASUU on Monday, February 14, 2022, embarked on industrial action over the alleged failure of the government to attend to its lingering demands.
Part of their demands includes the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement, and deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers.
The public universities lecturers are also asking for the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to their various institutions among others.