Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has appealed to the Academy Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) chapter, to pull out from the ongoing national strike.
Sule who made the appeal during a meeting with members of the Union, at the Government House, said it has become necessary for the union at the state owned university to consider ending the six months strike embarked upon solely for solidarity with the national body of ASUU.
According to Governor Sule, the meeting has become imperative in order for the parties to put heads together with a view to arriving at a solution stating that initially he didn’t want to interfere with the ongoing strike at the NSUK, since ASUU joined the strike in solidarity with their national body.
“I have to wade in because the strike is taking a little bit too long and it’s affecting the education of the people of the state. Our lecturers should understand that Nasarawa State is different from other states. We are not a state that is very buoyant. We are a state that is growing steadily. We are a state that is currently receiving some attention. So, if there’s any time that we can do something positive, different from the rest of the country, I always call on the good people of the state to see if we can do that,” he stated.
“I want us to find a solution. I am calling on you to interfere by appealing to you to consider suspending the strike. I would rather discuss your issues and see a way that we can resolve them rather than wait for the federal government to settle with federal workers,” he said.
Governor Sule while expressing optimism that even though suspending the strike may be difficult, told the university lecturers that, a state university that has its contract with the state government can chose to be different if their issues are addressed stating further when the going gets tough, only the tough gets going. Pointing out that It may be a difficult decision to make but not an animpossible decision to make.
Earlier, Vice Chancellor of NSUK, Professor Suleiman Bala Mohammed who thanked the Governor for convening the meeting and for increasing the visibility of the institution adding that in spite of ASUU, SSANU and NASU, amongst others, to join the ongoing strike, the institution has gone ahead to conduct its combined convocation in which the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and other top dignitaries attended, as well as organized a public lecture in partnership with the United Nations environment programme.
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