The Nigeria Government has said it was close to resolving its diaagreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said this during a town hall meeting in Bauchi on Monday with the youths of Bauchi State.
Adamu said once the areas of disagreement are resolved, the university lecturers will call off their strike.
The major area of disagreement with the lecturers, who had been on strike since March 2020, has been the mode of their payment.
While the Federal Government says all its employees, including university lecturers, must be enrolled on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, ASUU said it had developed its own University Transparency Account System.
Other demands include arrears of Earned Academic Allowance, revitalisation funds setting up of Visitation Panels.
Adamu said at the town hall meeting on Monday: “A government signed an agreement with ASUU on some conditions that it would pay universities N1.3 trillion and when the agreement was signed, it was not possible for them to be implemented.
“There is nowhere N1.3 trillion will come out from. The problem is on the side of the government because if a government appends its signature to an agreement, it is an agreement.
“We are not happy that the school calendar is disrupted, but the fault is in the government that signed what it knew it could not do. But I assure you we are at the verge of an agreement with ASUU.”
In response to a question on pension for teachers, Adamu said: “There is a pension scheme exclusively for teachers.
“All teachers’ children will be taught free in school. They won’t pay a kobo in the course of training their children.
“There will be special allowances for rural postings like hardship allowance.
“There is also preferential to housing scheme for teachers.”
