Show Some level of Understanding to End Strike – Umahi

Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State has said the Nigerian government could not borrow N1.1 trillion to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who have been on strike since February.

The Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum stated this on Wednesday when he received a delegation from the Nigeria Police Trust Fund led by Dr Ben Akabueze in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

“There is no way Nigeria will go and borrow N1.1tn to meet ASUU’s demand. It’s quite unreasonable. Are their demands genuine? Yes. But we can start little by little,” the governor said.

“There must be a commitment on the side of both parties that look, ‘ASUU is not asking for this to take to their houses’, so to say. It’s asking for it for our children, to better the infrastructure, to better the lecturers and the students. Yes, but we can start with a fraction of that and then have a programme that will run on sincerity to address all the lots.”

He further urged the lecturers to show some understanding so the strike could end.

“So, it is important for ASUU to show some understanding and for those who are negotiating on the side of government also to show some understanding,” he added.

“Let’s meet halfway and then open the schools to save the fate of our children.”

Umahi equally faulted the poor maintenance culture in the country, adding that there is a need to work on it.

“But let me also say that most of the time, our people have a low appetite for maintenance of public works,” Umahi said.

“No matter how much you deploy to these universities, unless the users and the industry regulators begin to treat public infrastructure as their own in the various universities, it will continue to go bad.