President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its ongoing strike, saying he was pained by the incessant disruption to the country’s tertiary education system.

Buhari, however, promised to deal with ASUU’s contending issues within the limits of the scarce resources available.

The President said this in his speech to commemorate Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Anniversary on Saturday.

He added that the Federal Government will continue to mobilise resources, both internationally and nationally, towards funding education to ensure that citizens are well educated and skilled in various vocations.

President Buhari said: “I must confess that I am very pained by the recurring disruption to our tertiary education system and I am using this Independence Day celebration to reiterate my call for the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the classroom while assuring them to deal with their contending issues within the limits of the scarce resources available.

“This administration has made appreciable progress in redressing these issues that have been lingering for over eleven years.

“The Federal Government will continue to mobilise resources both internationally and nationally towards funding education to ensure that our citizens are well educated and skilled in various vocations in view of the fact that education is a leading determinant of economic growth and employment generation.”

Speaking on the health sector, Buhari said his administration has improved the nation’s health facilities, especially during and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that this attracted commendation of the global community.

READ ALSO: Buhari to Nigerians: Your patience in me won’t end in vain

“As you are aware, Nigeria was one of the countries that defied global predictions of the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic because of our resilience, commitment, and passion with which we individually and collectively managed the pandemic,” he noted.

President Buhari further stated that his administration embarked on addressing critical ecological challenges across the country in order to mitigate the impact of climate change manifesting in the form of flood, soil erosion, desertification, and air pollution, amongst others

“We will continue to ensure that our infrastructure drive remains the key to Nigeria’s economic growth and for which every Nigerian will feel the impact.

“The Federal Government is already expanding ports operations to ensure that they provide opportunities for the growth of the Nigerian economy.

“We have also continued to accelerate our infrastructure development through serviceable and transparent borrowing, improved capital inflow, and increased revenue generation by expanding the tax bases and prudent management of investment proceeds in the Sovereign Wealth Fund,” the President said.

Buhari added that his administration has continued to boost the railway infrastructure to further open up communities to economic activities, noting that some critical railway projects have been completed and at the same time, rehabilitating and upgrading obsolete equipment.

“I am pleased to inform my fellow citizens that besides our emphasis on infrastructural development with its attendant opportunities for job creation, employment generation, and subsequent poverty reduction, our focussed intervention directly to Nigerians through the National Social Investment Programme is also yielding benefits.

“There is hardly any ward, village, or local government in Nigeria today that has not benefited from one of the following: N-Power, trader-moni, market moni, subsidised loans, business grants, or Conditional Cash Transfers.

“All the aforementioned programmes along with various interventions by the National Social Investment programme, direct support to victims of flooding and other forms of disasters have provided succor to the affected Nigerians,” President Buhari stated.

The Star