ASUU Strike Update: Will Be Over ‘In A Few Months’” – Minister Of Education

Nigerian students were yesterday assured by the Federal Government that the protracted
strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, would be over in a few months.
Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike stated this at the anniversary lecture of National
Universities Commission, NUC, in Abuja.
Represented by the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Macjohn
Nwaobiala, the minister reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to resolving the
ongoing strike.
“The Federal Government is very concerned about the state of public tertiary institutions
in the country. The Federal Government is really worried about the ongoing strike of
ASUU and the strike would be resolved in a few months,” Wike said.
In his paper presentation titled, ‘Turbulent and Testing Times for Global Higher
Education: Lessons for Nigeria’, Professor John Daniel said “online teaching and learning
is now part of the future of most universities. Nigeria should be very good at this
because without embarrassing you by pressing the point, I note that your country,
through 419 scams, is a world leader in the use of the internet for less desirable
purposes.”
According to him, higher education all over the world is facing lot of challenges that
included youth unemployment and the current changes in the university system.
“These are indeed turbulent times, not only for United States of America but also for
much of higher education globally,” he said.
In his goodwill message, a former Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Jubril Munzali,
noted that the education sector has been underfunded for 21 years, with the significant
increase in the funding of tertiary institutions being done over time, through the struggle
of ASUU.
He blamed the Federal Government for the lingering crisis rocking the nation’s university
system.
According to him, it is high time the Federal Government listened to its agencies and
allow NUC perform its statutory role and fund universities based on the advice of its
agencies like NUC.
“Successive administrations in the country never paid adequate attention to university
education,” Munzali said.