The Presidency said on Monday it was no longer interested in the December 9 deadline it handed over to the striking university teachers to return to work. Rather, it said it was satisfied with the lecturers’ level of compliance with the directive to them to resume work or be sacked.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said this while briefing journalists on the payment of the N200bn by the Federal Government into the “Revitalisation of Universities Infrastructure” account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Okupe’s claim of “substantial compliance” was however described as total falsehood by the Academic Staff Union of Universities leadership, which also said it would not attend a meeting on Wednesday(today) with the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, and vice-chancellors on the University Needs Assessment Report Implementation Committee.
Okupe had told journalists that the Federal Government was soft pedaling on the threat to sack the defiant ASUU members because many senior citizens and institutions had intervened. He said that as of Sunday evening, government had reports that there was substantial compliance by many lecturers with the directive.
