ASUU Blast Ngige Over Claim That FG Cannot Afford N110bn revitalisation fund For Universities

ASUU Lagos zone in response, has blasted the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.

The minister of Labour Dr Chris Ngige in a recent interview claimed that the Federal Government cannot afford the conservative N110 billion for the revitalisation of universities in Nigeria.

Infoexpert24 reports that the union in a statement issued on Sunday by Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Olusiji Sowande, urged parents, students, and the general public not to be moved by the statement made by Ngige.

Recall that ASUU has been on strike for seven months and they have faulted the federal government for paying bailout funds to the private sector and failed to pay the revitalisation fund for the universities.

The union zonal coordinator while reacting to the recent comment made by Ngige on a live TV programme. said, “The statement is laced with the hidden fact that the MoL&E and his team have no intention of ending the ongoing strike this year.

“The Nigerian public should be appalled that government team, after having a series of meetings with our Union, is just collating pertinent data required to engage our Union.

“Consequently, the government has deliberately been wasting the time and resources of our Union on meetings and engagements it was not prepared for.

“It is therefore not surprising that Dr. Chris Ngige-led government team has not been able to return to negotiating table since the last engagement with our Union on November 4, 2020.”

On the claim that the federal government cannot afford the revatilisation fund, the union lamented that “only recently, government-approved N5 billion bailout fund to operators in the aviation sector to ameliorate the harsh realities of COVID-19 on their business operations.”

It also raised the concern that over the years, the Nigerian government has spent over N1.5 trillion to bail out power generation and distribution companies to keep their business afloat despite privatisation of the power sector.