Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba who is the erstwhile Minister of State for Education has insisted that his two children have been affected by the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Nwajiuba made this statement while apologising to Nigerians, adding that he takes responsibility for the lingering strike by ASUU.
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The presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
Nwajiuba, who last week resigned his position in the cabinet to concentrate on his presidential dream, said: “I do apologize to Nigerian students because as their minister, I will take responsibility.
“But also, on behalf of the Federal Government, I would say ‘please understand what the issues are’.
“All my four children have passed through Nigerian universities. I still have two who are at home now because they are all in public universities.”
Recall that the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, also embarked on strike in February over the failure of the Federal Government to address their concerns.
Nwajiuba apologised to Nigerian students for the continued strike, taking responsibility as their minister.
“The only problem is that we have asked ASUU that strikes can’t cure the problem. FG is saying we need our students back in school, as it hurts parents and students.
“We think ASUU may need to consider and work with government including needs assessment, allowances, this government has done more than any other government in meeting with ASUU.
On proposals FG can use to resolve ASUU, he stated that a new scheme in which universities earn a different way of earning money is being looked at
“This is something I will implement if president,” he stated, adding that “even if not implemented now, University autonomy law needs to be activated because you see, there are only 50 of these federal universities and there are 200 others. However, these 50 alone are more than 75 percent of the number of students in the entire university structure – about 2.2m of them.”
“So, it is important we give them a funding structure; we need to bring a funding structure to the table because this coming hand-in-cap to the Federal Government at all times cannot be continued and is not sustainable.
“We need to arrive at something sustainable and we have proposed that, I am sure the President will be looking at it,” he said.
