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.
