The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on Thursday, said it is the responsibility of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to compensate students for the time wasted during the six-month strike, not the Federal Government.
He also said the government will not concede to the union’s demand to pay lecturers their emoluments for the six months of no academic activities.
Adamu suggested that the affected students should “take ASUU to court” to claim damages incurred over the strike period.
The Education minister said this at the 47th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
According to him, the federal government bears no liability to compensate millions of students grounded for six months over lost time.
He also said if the students are determined to get compensated, they should take ASUU to court.
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1 Comments
It is a pity that the honourable minister of education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, is not conversant with the workings of the university academic system based on his pronouncement that lecturers will forfeit their salaries for the period of strike. How will the students progress or graduate if what was supposed to be taught is not taught? It is only convenient to pay lecturers monthly as their remuneration is not based on monthly performance of duties but on complete coverage of the syllabus. If lecturers are paid based on monthly performance of duties, why are they paid during the long vacation when students are not on campus?
ReplyDeleteMoreover, lecturers' job description is tripartite in nature: 1) Teaching, 2) Research, and 3) Community Service. The current strike is limited to teaching only, while research and community service are ongoing. If what the minister is saying is correct and valid, it means that the final year students who are supposed to have graduated but couldn't because of the strike, should just come and collect their certificates without completing the syllabus when the strike is called off. The minister needs to be educated properly on the flexibility of the academic calendar, which can always be adjusted by the University Senate.
The ASUU president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has made it abundantly clear that lecturers will not go on leave for the next four (4) years to compensate for the period of strike in order to ensure that no academic calendar year is cancelled, so the minister has no justification whatsoever not to pay the outstanding salary arrears once, and not piecemeal.