THE Presidency has urged parents to join the Federal Government in begging the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to suspend its ongoing strike.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the president, Garba Shehu, made the call yesterday during the 11th graduation ceremony of Glisten International Academy in Abuja.
He insisted that the government was doing its part and urged parents to prevail on the varsity lecturers to end the strike.
The presidential aide’s call came just 24 hours after the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, appealed to parents to beg ASUU to suspend the strike.
The union embarked on a four-week warning strike on February 14 over the federal government’s failure to honour agreements signed by both parties.
ASUU demands include the revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for payment of university lecturers’ salaries, among others.
The union extended its strike for another one month on Monday, the fourth since the industrial action commenced 173 days ago.
Shehu said: “It came like a bolt in the sky. We are shocked because it came at a time when the president is giving full commitment to resolving the ASUU strike and having the students and teachers back in the school.
“The extension, I believe, should not have been done because the spirit in which the government now is trying to resolve the problems of ASUU is such that there should also be a benefit of the doubt in favour of the government on the part of ASUU.
“The strike is unnecessarily extended and this should not have been the case.
“I want to advise parents to join the government in begging ASUU to end this strike, as the government is doing its part and parents are worried and they should start talking to ASUU.”
