‘We Are Not Happy That Our Universities Are Closed Down’ – VCs Beg FG to Resolve Issues With ASUU

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities has urged the federal government to resolve issues with the ASUU so that students can go back to school.

Mr Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, had in an interview, said the government had no money to meet ASUU’s demands and would not go into borrowing.

The chairman of CVCNU, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, speaking during an interview with The PUNCH, on Tuesday, said the demands of ASUU were not for the union but for the rehabilitation of the universities.

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He further explained that what the government meant by that statement was that it did not have money to fund its own universities.

He said, “This issue of saying we don’t have money to put into the university system shouldn’t be. It is like the NEEDS assessment fund; it was not given to ASUU, it was given to the universities.

“When they say we don’t have funds, what they are saying is that ‘these universities are our own but we don’t have money to give. We don’t have money to pay for overhead to run the universities.’ I listened to Keyamo also. He is not even at the centre of the whole thing.”

“I will not take whatever Keyamo says as the position of the government. We are not happy that our universities are closed down.

“I plead with both parties to amicably resolve the issues on the ground. I know the government and ASUU, especially the Ministry of Education, are working with national leaders of ASUU, but they have not finalised the reason they have not come out publicly,” he added.

“We are not happy that universities have been closed for this much time. It has been close to five months now. It affects the operations, and it disrupts the academic calendar, which has a negative effect on the operations of respective universities.

“Especially at those universities where their visitors are not funding the institutions, it is the little funding they get from students that they make use of.

“We are pleading with the government to look at the plight of students and lecturers in Nigerian universities to resolve the issue. If we decide to keep silent, we are prolonging evil days. With last year’s strike, we lost some academic sessions and it is affecting the economy.”