Buhari Finally Speaks About Labour Unions, ASUU, ASUP Strike

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday pleaded with the various labour unions in the country to reduce their agitations to enable his administration to concentrate on repairing damaged infrastructure.

The president said this during a meeting with the executive committee of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the State House in Abuja.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since November 4, 2018 while Polytechnic lecturers (ASUP) joined their university counterparts on December 12, 2018.

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the NLC had threatened to embark on a nationwide protest on January 8.

Buhari specifically mentioned ASUU and urged the striking teachers to appreciate the efforts of his administration at fixing collapsed infrastructure.

“In three-and-a-half years, we have improved tremendously on what we met. We are trying to do infrastructure.

 “No matter which part of the country you come from, you will see the efforts we are making in terms of roads; we are trying to fix rails, we are trying to do power, through the use of gas and solar. If you note what we have done in these three-and-a-half years, you will not regret voting this administration into power”, a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, quoted Buhari as saying.

Buhari added he would speak to ASUU to call off the current industrial action “so that they don’t encroach on your efforts to qualify (graduate) in time.”

“There is a tendency for you to think that you can do better than anybody, but it is very good for you to know the facts that leadership entails”, he added.

Buhari also assured the Labour leaders that, having been in positions of leadership at various stages in life, and with the experience, he means well for Nigerians and indeed, workers, and should be allowed to fix infrastructure so that more Nigerians could be taken out of the poverty cycle.

“I am totally loyal to this country. Whatever I do is in the interest of the ordinary people especially those who do not have the benefit of being educated like you, and are just trusting whoever is leading them,” he said.