ASUU Strike: Presidency Queries Lecturers For Holding Buhari Responsible

The Presidency has called out university lecturers for holding President Muhammadu Buhari "by the neck" over the prolonged strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

In an appearance on Channels TV's Politics Today, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, wondered why the president was being held responsible for an agreement not signed by his administration.

According to Shehu, the federal government needs to also focus on other sectors in the nation and given the need for the military to fight terrorists, ASUU can't get all the attention.

“As for ASUU, the president has the right to appeal on behalf of Nigerians, this is six months or more of the ongoing strike.

“Is it right for anyone to insist on taking 100 per cent of all of those grievances that they have?

"Don’t forget that what is the cause of this problem is a 2009 agreement with the then government that they have no capacity to deliver upon and have passed it from one government to another.

“So, we might ask the question, why is Buhari being held by the neck? What happened in the past? Why didn’t they strangle those past administrations on these matters? That’s our worry.

“The Federal Government has put a lot of substance on the table. Will the Federal Government yield to 100 per cent of ASUU demands, I won't say.

“There are also other sectors of the economy yearning for attention, the military needs weapons, guns to fight terrorists. We have to look into other sectors of the economy.

“The Minister of State for Education has assured that we are about to turn the corner and all these issues are about to be resolved. We have reached this level in the past and my prayer is that it would soon end.

“They have family members and leaders within the community, so they should prevail on them to resume classes and those elements that have not been resolved can be talked over.”