By Emmanuel Nduka
President Muhammadu Buhari has given Malam Adamu Adamu, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, a directive to end the protracted industrial action that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based unions have started.
Following briefings from the various government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) participating in the continuing attempts to settle the standoff with the university unions, the President issued the order on Tuesday.
Buhari had summoned them in order to learn more about why the strike had lingered for so long.
President Buhari was also reported to have instructed that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, must be in attendance in all subsequent meetings to speedily resolve the crisis.
It would be recalled that on February 14, ASUU began a one-month warning strike, and other unions soon followed suit in protest of what they claimed was the Nigerian Government’s failure to meet their demands.
President Buhari’s directive comes a week after he told the striking university lecturers that ‘enough is enough.’
