ASUU strike at the climax of ending – Minister

In spite of the non-committal posture of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Minister of Education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’i yesterday in Abuja said the current industrial action that has left universities paralysed would soon be called off.


The minister who said this at the mid term policy review meeting of the Four-Year Strategic Plan of her ministry, hinged her hope for speedy resolution of the crisis on what she described as the interaction going on between government and ASUU.

Rufa’i said the meeting between government and the union, targeted at harmonising all the demands presented by the various university unions, would continue in Abuja, today.

Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, who is also the chairman of the NEEDS implementation committee, will chair the meeting.

She said: “We do have a responsibility and we are working on that responsibility. We are going to continue the meeting with ASUU today, we hope that by the end of the meeting, we would have gone a long way in resolving the crisis.”

Speaking on the mid term policy review meeting, the minister reiterated the importance of education to the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

She said: “Education is key to achieving and sustaining the goals of a Nigerian society that must develop its citizens as assets so that they can support the drive for competitive advantage.’’

She equally noted that the development of the four-year strategic plan for the education sector was a clear consolidation on earlier efforts that were led by Mr. President through the Presidential Summit on Education.