The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has declared that three of his children are affected by the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, since February as they also attended public universities in Nigeria
Ngige made the declaration during an interview on Arise Television on Sunday when disputing the general impression that those in government did not care about the nation’s education system because their children attended schools abroad.
His words: “I have three biological children in public schools. They are in public schools; they are not in private universities. Unlike ASUU members who have most of their children in private universities, three of mine are here. So, I am a very big stakeholder in the public tertiary school system.
“So, when ASUU says politicians don’t care because they have taken their children abroad, Chris Ngige cares because my children are not abroad even though they have dual nationality – two of them have American citizenship; they can be in America but I choose them to be here with me.
“So, ASUU cannot accuse me of not being nationalistic enough. Anything that will help the university system here, I am in the forefront.”
Indication that the ongoing strike by lecturers may soon come to an end was given on Friday following the federal government’s decision to grant the lecturers some of their demands.
Key among the demands is that they should be exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, and the government has granted that.
The new development was announced by Ngige after a meeting between the federal government and ASUU in Abuja.
He stated that the government had also resolved to pay the aggrieved lecturers their salary arrears from February to June, using the old payment platform of Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System.
That, Ngige said, was pending when the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS, which the lecturer insisted should be used instead of IPPIS would be ready.
