In a bid to weaken the influence of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Federal Government of Nigeria, on Tuesday, registered two unions in the university system.
The unions are the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, made this known while speaking during the presention of the certificates of registration to the two unions explained that the two bodies will exist alongside ASUU.
Read Also: ASUU: Buhari Govt Has Killed Education And We’ll Bury It – NANS
Africa Daily News, New York reports that ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, as lecturers of public universities protest unpaid allowances and demand better welfare packages from the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has received the House of Representatives’ report on its ongoing intervention efforts in the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), promising to study and meet the legislators again.
Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila who is the Speaker of the House of Representatives made this disclosure while speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Africa Daily News, New York recalls that the House of Representatives had last Thursday held a closed-door meeting with the leadership of ASUU and the representatives of the federal government in Abuja in a bid to end the almost eight-month-old industrial action.
According to Gbajabiamila, the President received their report and requested a few days to study it, adding that another meeting would be convened either Thursday or Friday.
Meanwhile, President Buhari has said corruption in the education sector and frequent strikes by ASUU are undermining the federal government’s investment in the sector.
He said critics downplay funding by focusing only on budgetary allocations and urged a more comprehensive re-evaluation of expenditure.
The president, who said this at the opening of the fourth national summit on “Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector” at the State House, Abuja, yesterday, said measuring financing of education sector should include total education budget of each year by both federal and state governments and other financial commitments in their totality.