The Federal Ministry of Education has responded to the 21-day ultimatum issued by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which threatens another strike if the Federal Government fails to meet their demands.
Following its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, ASUU announced that lecturers would be compelled to resume strike action unless the government addressed their unresolved issues within the stipulated 21 days. ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, reiterated this stance during a press conference on Wednesday.
In response to the strike threat, the spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Education, Folashade Biriowo, assured that the ministry is actively addressing the concerns raised by ASUU. "The ministry is working on it," Biriowo told Punch in a phone interview on Wednesday evening.
Earlier, on June 26, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had convened a meeting with ASUU to discuss the lingering issues affecting universities and to prevent the looming strike. However, ASUU President Prof. Osodeke expressed disappointment, noting that the agreements reached during the meeting had not yet been implemented.
“At the meeting with the Minister of Education, we agreed to reconvene after two weeks to assess the government's progress. We will decide our next steps if the government fails to fulfill the agreements made,” Prof. Osodeke stated.
