President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that the Federal Government will keep its pledges to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

This, according to the President, is to avoid disruptive strikes, provide uninterrupted academic programs, and enhance educational budgets.

The President made the vow when he met with members of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) in Abuja on Tuesday, led by the Co-Chairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, and Rev. Samson Ayokunle, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

He applauded NIREC’s leadership for intervening in ASUU’s year-long strike and having talks with the parties.

According to him, no civilization that aspires to be successful ignores its educational system and all of its components.

Buhari told NIREC that in its future talks with ASUU members, it was critical that they let them know that the government valued them and the service they offered to the country.

He said, “However, they should be cognisant of the fiscal pressures that we are currently facing. Nevertheless, we remain committed to honoring our promises.

“For their part, I will like to encourage ASUU to continue to work with us toward finding resolutions to the challenges that confront us.

“My administration is committed to this engagement and dialogue, and I urge them to stay the course toward a joint resolution in the best interest of our children and nation.”

The President said he had directed his Chief of Staff, the Ministers of Labour and Employment, and the Ministers of Education to make resolving the issue a priority, in response to concerns raised by the leadership of NIREC about finding sustainable solutions to the nation’s university system’s perennial and disruptive strikes.

The President stated that he had gotten a briefing from the Labor Minister “detailing where we are today, given the various interested parties,” and that he briefed the meeting as follows:

”To show our commitment, several payments have been made over the last 6 months, addressing several of the issues you raised – details of which the minister of labour and employment can make available to you.

”Funding has also been provided for infrastructure development across several public universities and several of them have begun drawing down on this facility to improve their level of infrastructure

”Finally, and perhaps the most contentious of issues regarding the decision to use either the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) or the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS).

”As you may be aware, IPPIS was introduced as a means of blocking leakages. Through IPPIS, the Federal Government was able to save over N100 billion annually from the core civil service alone. In view of the resistance from ASUU we devised UTAS which is now on the table.

”I have also been informed that the System Assessment Report conducted by NITDA has been shared by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to all stakeholders, including ASUU, and they are to make the appropriate modifications and report their recommendations.’’

In the meeting with the president, CAN President’s remarks on behalf of the Council were focused on preventing university strikes and ASUU’s difficulties, which they believed to be of national importance.

The university lecturers outlined the bone of disagreement between the union and the Federal Government during NIREC’s meeting with ASUU on January 10, 2022, according to Ayokunle.

These difficulties, according to him, include the inconclusive renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, UTAS, IPPIS, and salary payment distortion challenges.

Visitation panels to Federal Universities report issues, finance for revitalisation of public institutions, earned academic allowance, state universities, and promotion arrears are among the other problematic topics.

While noting that the government had addressed some of the issues, NIREC leadership urged President Buhari to order an urgent return to the table to complete the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.

The NIREC co-chair said, ”If the renegotiation process continues to conclusion, issues that the government is not comfortable with can be renegotiated with a view to reaching only implementable agreements.

“We believe that with renegotiation in place, other issues will be adequately addressed along the line.”