The federal government is offering N30 billion as earned allowances to the striking university lecturers in a bid to end the lingering strike, which has shut down academic activities in the universities nationwide.
A top official from the Federal Ministry of Education told THISDAY Thursday, that due to the dwindling revenue base of the government, it was ready to offer N30 billion to the striking lecturers under the auspices of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to end the strike.
Government’s position is believed to be a sincere approach in ending the strike in the midst of dwindling revenue profile occasioned by oil theft and macro-economic measures aimed at diversifying the economy.
While all the demands of the striking lecturers had been resolved, the bone of contention had been ‘earned allowances’, which they have put at N87 billion.
According to our source, the N30 billion, which the federal government was offering, was in the conviction that considering the nation’s current revenue base, ASUU should make some sacrifices and go back to work in the interest of the students and the country at large.
He disclosed that the government was desirous of a holistic and sustainable solution to the problems bedeviling the entire education sector, adding that the focus is on infrastructure development, which the federal government had set up the Governor Gabriel Suswam-led University Needs Implementation Committee to handle.
The NEEDS Implementation Committee had announced on Tuesday, that N100 billion would be made available to universities for infrastructure development.
Government’s approach, he added, was on a specific, once-and-for-all solution and wants every Nigerian, including the lecturers to make sacrifices and call off the strike so that the students could resume academic work.
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Source: ThisDay
