Latest News on the on-going ASUU Strike : FG to Students and Parents

The Federal Government has expressed
admitted worry at the distortion in school
calendar as a result of the on going strike
by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
saying that it is committed to the speedy
resolution of the crisis for the sake of
Nigerian students.
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku told
state House correspondents at the end of
Wednesday's Federal Executive Council
meeting that government was committed
to "serious negotiations" with the university
lecturers.
The Minister appealed to the students and
parents to bear with government and show
more understanding as efforts are being
made to resolve the contending issues very
soon.
"The federal government has been far
more worried than you think concerning
the strike in tertiary institutions, because
of the disruption of the school calendar
and so government is concerned and very
worried and since the onset of the strike
government has been negotiating with
ASUU through the Ministry of Labour and
Productivity and the Ministry of Education.
"As at today we know that this negotiations
are going on and it is our expectation that
this strike will not get more protracted and
that an understanding will be reached soon
enough to enable our students return back
to school. Government is very worried and
concerned every time the school calendar is
disrupted, it has its cost to the nation,
particularly the idle time our children
spend at home can lead to alot of social
difficulties.
"We don't want school calendars to be
disrupted and a lot of series of discussions
have been going on and we believe we
should record some progress soon enough
for these schools to open and the Minister
of Labour and education will be giving
quarter briefing on the progress of these
negotiation and I know that it has never
cease.
"So we are appealing to our people
particularly parents and children of this
nation to bear with us, to show more
understanding and we pray that this type
of strike will not re-occur, because the
public school system suffers a lot of
damage with the perennial strikes. The
universities have been relatively stable since
the advent of this Administration. The
outraged strikes that we inherited we have
tried to resolve them, and if you notice in
the last two years there has not been a lot
of strikes until this unfortunate one and I
believe we will overcome it and in the end
both parties will appreciate the need to
keep the school calendar stable for the
progress of our country. So government is
working hard to ensure we reach an
agreement to resolve this problem so that
or schools can re-open" he said.
Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council
Wednesday approved a contract of N2.99
billion for the rehabilitation/construction
of the Calabar-Ugep section of the Katsina-
Ala/Ogoja/Ugep/Calabar road.
The earlier section of the road which is
already 80 per cent complete, was
awarded for N4.6 billion, thus bringing the
total contract sum for the entire road to
N7.5 billion
Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda,
explained that the contractor, Piccolo
Brunelli, which handled the first phase,
was asked to continue with the extension
since it was already on site and had done a
very good job.
Yuguda recalled that "the first phase of
the project aimed at addressing the heavily
distressed sections of the road while other
sections not captured in the original
contract scope of works would be
addressed when funds became available.
"This is to ensure that government and the
public get the full benefits of the
investment made on the roads in terms of
improvement of the level of service" he
said.
Culled from VanguardNg