Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, said on Thursday that the union was unaware of the ₦1.2tn that the Federal Government said it would require to meet its members’ demands.
He also accused Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, of misleading the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), about the union’s strike.
The Federal Government claimed in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, that the proposal made by the Prof. Limi Briggs-led committee in response to ASUU and other university unions’ demands would cost ₦1.12 trillion to implement.
President Buhari had earlier this week asked the union to reconsider its ongoing strike because it was causing hardship for parents and students.
On Thursday’s Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, Osodeke stated that if the President had been properly briefed, he would not have made such a statement.
READ ALSO: ASUU Strike: Enough is Enough
Concerning the negotiations, the ASUU President stated that the union was unaware of the figure circulated by the Federal Government as the amount required to end the strike.
“If the committee had properly briefed the President through the Minister of Education, I don’t think the President would have said ‘enough is enough, go to your class while we negotiate,'” Osodeke said.
“It is the Labour Minister and his group that would have gone to the President to tell him that we chase out his people, we refuse salary.
We are not aware of where their so-called figure arrives from. In all our agreement and discussion, we didn’t talk about N1.2 trillion or N2.4 trillion, or whatever. We didn’t calculate the quantum of what we would need. We calculated what each member of our union will earn.
If this man who is telling you this figure can tell a lie that ASUU chased out his members from the negotiation table, why would he not tell a lie about the figure? The ministry is churning out fake figures. We negotiated with the Education Ministry, so wherever they got the documents is their business”.
