Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has called on President Buhari to give ASUU N3.6bn for his feeding and travels, and N134bn for National Assembly to ensure students return to school.
Newsonline reports that SERAP also called on President Buhari to recover N105.7 billion of public funds to meet ASUU demand.
SERAP stated that recovering the missing N105.7bn of public funds from MDAs to fund the country’s public tertiary institutions and improve the welfare of staff members, would ensure that the striking ASUU return to class without further delay.
“Pending the recovery of the missing public funds, we urge him to redirect some of the presidency’s budget of N3.6 billion on feeding and travels, and the N134 billion allocated to the National Assembly in the 2022 budget to meet the demands by ASUU,” SERAP demanded.
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, accused the President Buhari government of poor commitment to the payment of academic earned allowance (EAA); poor funding, the continued use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System & refusal to adopt the Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), among others.
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“The apparent failure by his government to agree with the reasonable demands by ASUU, implement good faith agreement with the union, and to satisfactorily resolve the issues has kept poor Nigerian children at home while the children of the country’s politicians attend private schools,” SERAP argued.
ASUU and other university workers’ unions have been on strike for several months. The unions’ demands, among other things, include better funding for the nation’s public tertiary institutions and improved welfare for their members.
SERAP disclosed that N105.7bn of public funds are missing, as documented by the Auditor-General of the Federation in his annual audited report for 2018.
While President Buhari’s government has reportedly released N34 billion for the payment of minimum wage consequential adjustments from 2019, ASUU has maintained that until its core demands are met, it will not suspend the strike.
