Nigeria

ASUU strike: FG didn't promise to pay lecturers before returning to class, Ngige blasts Ogunyemi

Wednesday, December 09, 2020 at 10:30 AM by Wale Akinola

- The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, has berated the ASUU president over his comment

- Ogunyemi had claimed that FG is frustrating ASUU's efforts to call off the strike

- Ngige, however, described the claims by the union's boss as false and misleading

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The ongoing strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may not end soon as the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, and the leadership of the union engaged in verbal war.

The Nation reports that the minister on Tuesday, December 8, faulted claims of the ASUU president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, who blamed the federal government for the union's failure to call off the strike.

Ogunyemi noted that the lecturers would not return to classes until their salary arrears were paid, adding that the government had failed to deliver on offers made to the union.

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ASUU: You are a liar, FG didn't promise to pay salaries before lecturers return to class, Ngige blasts Ogunyemi — The minister of labour and employment said the federal government didn't promise to pay lecturers' salaries before the ASUU strike is called off. Credited: @SenChrisNgige
Source: Twitter

But in his reaction, Ngige said the federal government did not promise to pay striking ASUU members before they return to the classroom.

He said:

“The truth of the matter is that a ‘gentleman agreement’ was reached at the last meeting in which ASUU agreed to call off the strike before December 9, 2020."

The minister stated that ASUU began a warning strike on March 9 and went into full-blown industrial action on the 23rd of the same month over the IPPIS payment platform.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the leader of the ninth Senate, Senator Abdullahi Yahaya Abubakar, attributed the genesis of the series of the strike embarked on by the ASUU to the effects of the economic policies put in place by previous administrations.