Buhari meets varsities’ pro-chancellors, promises further consultations on ASUU strike

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday promised to continue consultation with relevant stakeholders and other Nigerians in a bid to find a lasting solution to the current impasse between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The president, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stated this during a meeting with the pro-chancellors of universities at the State House, Abuja.

“I will make further consultations, and I’ll get back to you,” he told the visiting pro-chancellors.

The Chairman of the government’s renegotiation committee, Prof. Nimi Briggs, who led the pro-chancellors to the State House, described the recent listing of the University of Ibadan among the first 1,000 universities in the world as a huge boost to the country’s education system.

Briggs stressed that the future of the country’s university system was bright despite the ASUU strike.

READ ALSO:‘ASUU crisis has been on for about 30 years, it’s not Buhari’s fault,’ says ex-Borno commissioner, Bulama

He commended the Federal Government for agreeing to raise salaries in the university system by 23.5 percent and 35 percent respectively.

He, however, appealed to the federal government to take another look at the “No-Work, No-Pay” policy in the interest of the students who are the biggest victims of the crisis in the university system.

The varsity teachers’ strike which commenced on February 14 entered its 223rd day on Friday.

They are demanding the revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for payment of salaries, among others.

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