Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has attacked the federal government for spending trillions of naira to manage the covid 19 pandemic.
The governor who maintained his position that he doesn’t believe in the existence of the coronavirus pandemic noted that such a humungous amount should have been used to settle the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU whose members are currently on strike across the country.
The university lecturers have been on strike since February, and have vowed never to return to classrooms until their demands have been met.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu somehow shocked the country and lovers of education after he said the federal government has decided not to pay the striking lecturers for the period they are on strike.
The minister said “all contentious issues between the government and ASUU have been settled except the quest for members’ salaries for the period of strike be paid, a demand that Buhari has flatly rejected.
“On the contrary, unions in tertiary institutions in the country, especially ASUU, have been engaged in recurring and avoidable strikes that have crippled the university system.
“This is in spite of the huge investments of over N2.5 trillion in tertiary institutions in the last 10 years from TETFund alone. Common knowledge as it were, many Nigerians may not know that the Federal Government is paying the salaries of every staff in its tertiary institutions, academic and non-academic staff, while these institutions are also in full control of their IGR.”
The minister said President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the lecturers not to be paid arrears of salary for six months.
Those watching the stalemate said the ASUU problem is far from being over.
Speaking Governor Bello said government negotiators with ASUU has failed, adding that ‘trillions’ spent on nose masks and hand sanitisers should have been invested in the education sector.
He said the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF has waded into the matter with a view to resolving it.
Bello said “The trillions spent buying nose masks and hand sanitisers… a lot could have solved this ASUU issue, but that’s that.
“I don’t think they [ministers] are representing Mr President well. This is a man that cares so much about education, and even children during that lockdown were being fed at home.
“Those who Mr President entrusted to handle this protracted issue are not doing justice to it.”
“The NGF has been making every effort to ensure that on behalf of all the governors, we discuss with ASUU and all those that are involved, we are making such efforts.”
Meanwhile, parents and students have continued to appeal to the federal government to come to an agreement on all contentious issues so that the striking lecturers could return to work in order for academic activities to return to the nation’s ivory towers.
