Federal Government Did Not Know The Reasons Behind The ASUU Strike

The federal government said, he did not understand the reasons behind the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, ongoing strike.

Emeka Nwajiuba, the Minister of State for Education, said in Abuja, that ASUU as the government’s  employees, did not have rights to order the government which is their employer, how their salaries should be paid.

He said the federal government has limited resources and cannot borrow money to pay ASUU.

He said the government can only borrow money to fund infrastructures where it gets returns.

He said, “Why they (ASUU) have chosen to go on strike is something that neither you nor I can explain.

“The federal government’s funding is very limited and because of the additional challenges of security, it had to repeatedly borrow money to finance projects. This same borrowing is not available to build social infrastructure, it’s only available to build infrastructure that government can get return from, like railways.”

“To borrow and pay people is normally not what World Bank or other financial institutions borrow money for. However, the federal government has continued to address this by paying the salaries that are due,” he added.