President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday called out to the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) to consider the plight of students wasting away at home and put an end to the lingering strike.
The President made the appeal at the 19th National Productivity Day Celebration and Conferment of National Productivity Order of Merit Award, held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.
According to him, a stable education system is paramount to the growth of the country, hence all parties involved in the ongoing matter must come back to the negotiation table to critically look at the grey areas in the demands of ASUU and in fact all other University-based labour unions.
The President also urged students in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions to exercise patience as the government strives to address the nagging issues in the nation’s university system within the ambit of the resources available.
This was contained in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, titled, ‘At National Productivity Day Awards, President Buhari appeals to ASUU to call off strike’.
‘‘Therefore, if we desire to transform Nigeria into a competitive, strong, vibrant, productive and sustainable economy, improving our educational system should be accorded the highest priority.
‘‘Quality educational system is good not just for the national economy; it is also good for the citizens.
‘‘Ignoring the productivity dimension of education would endanger the prosperity of future generations, with widespread repercussions for poverty and social exclusion.
‘‘It will be difficult to improve our economic performance and overall productivity, without improving our educational system.
‘‘Government notes the emergency situation in our educational system with particular reference to the dearth of qualified and dedicated teachers to enhance the quality of teaching and learning at all levels of our educational system,’’ the President said.
While highlighting notable achievements in the education sector including the drastic reduction of the number of out of school children from 10.1million in 2019 to 6.9 million in 2020, automatic employment for graduates of education, review of the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years, among others, the President said more still needs to be done.
ASUU had embarked on a nationwide strike since February 2022.
On Monday, the union announced its decision to extended its ongoing roll-over strike by another three months.
The body is demanding funding for the revitalisation of public universities, the Earned Academic Allowances, the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.
Other demands include the renegotiation and implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement and the inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.
