ASUU is not asking for things that are impossible —Ngige

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, has revealed the commitment of the Federal Government to implement the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities regarding a revamp of the educational system in the country.

Due to the moribund system, ASUU has always embarked on periodic strikes in order to press their demands.

The Minister made this call on Thursday during the reconvened meeting between the leadership of the ASUU and the federal government in Abuja.

He assured the union that the federal government would not abandon the public universities in spite of dwindling resources.

“ASUU is not asking for things that are impossible. They are not asking that we give them our head or blood.

Read also: Nigerian govt won’t give ASUU opportunity to go on strike again – Ngige

“They are interested in getting good working condition for their members and for the public university system to be conducive for teaching and research,” he said.

Ngige said that government would be happy to concentrate its limited resources in areas that would produce good effect for the country.

According to him, “if the private sector can bring excellence to our universities, government can as well do same. So, working hand in hand with ASUU as we are currently doing is a model we must keep.

”We will not be going to war with ASUU all the time. We can do constructive engagement. If there is something that government can do and it says it can’t, I am here to say no, you can because I am privy to some information.

“So, we will give the public university system a pride of place, so that when next global assessment is done, we will get more Nigerian universities in the first 1,000 in Africa.”

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