Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has come out to tell it all on how his administration squashed the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike overnight.
 |
| From Left: All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice Presidential candidate Kashim Shettima, Presidential Candidate of the APC Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Former President of Nigeria Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during the marking of the 70th birthday of Bishop Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Roman Catholic Diocese |
Jonathan told how it all happened during a conference to mark the 70th birthday of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Roman Catholic Diocese.
ASUU embarked on a strike in February over several issues which includes; non-payment of revitalisation fund and earned academic allowances alongside the non-adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) over the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Jonathan, speaking at the conference, said: “The society we are managing is quite complex. Yes, I was the president, and I tried my best. We are now talking about the ASUU strike.
“During my time too, ASUU had four months of the strike. Different committees were meeting, but nothing was working. I said ‘How can our children stay out of school for four good months?”
“So, I had to call a meeting of all the leadership of ASUU. I presided over the meeting with my vice president. The Attorney General was there.
“I said that night we must solve the problem. The Attorney General was there; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was there; the ministers of education were there; the labour ministers were there; the finance ministers and everybody that had to do with it [strike].
“And I thought that my being there would help us to do things quickly. But we spent the whole night. We finished like 5:30 am and the strike was called off. So, there were issues.”
