JUST IN: There won’t be ASUU strike under Atiku presidency – Reno Omokri

A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri has said there will not be issue of strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) should presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar become president of Nigeria in 2023. 

Omokri made this assertion in an interview with Channel’s Television’s Politics Today on Thursday. 

He noted is determined to improve the Nigeria’s economy through education, by ensuring that education gets the highest sectoral allocation in the national budget.

“Atiku is determined to make sure that the youths are equipped with the skills that they need to employ and to be employable,” he said.

Lately, ASUU has accused the Federal Government of trying to break its ranks by selecting some medical lecturers for the payment of their withheld salaries, while other academic staff are left unattended to.

Specifically, the union said medical lecturers at the Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto have been paid seven months salaries, accusing the Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr Chris Ngige, of favouring his professional colleagues.

In a statement by the Chairperson, ASUU, UDUS, M. N Almustapha and the Secretary, S. A Sadiku, the union noted that such action would not augur well for the university system.

Also speaking in a chat with Vanguard on Thursday, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the minister to order.

Recall that ASUU embarked on strike on February 14 this year and only suspended it after eight months and non-academic staff embarked on theirs in March.

During the strike, the government registered CONUA and MDCAN as staff unions in the university system.