The Federal Government has said the issue concerning the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and three other university-based unions is not as simple as Nigerians think.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this while speaking to State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

It would be recalled that ASUU had been on strike since February to press home its demands.

The striking lecturers’ demands include funding of the revitalisation of public universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS), and promotion arrears.

Others are the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, and the inconsistency in Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

Other university-based unions, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) also embarked on strike over the alleged government insensitivity to their demands.

However, Mohammed, while speaking on the development on Wednesday said the issue with the unions was not as simple as many citizens of the country think.

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The minister added that the Federal Government was worried over the long closure of the public universities and was making frantic efforts to ensure that all the contentious issues are resolved.

He said: “The other question has to do with the with ASUU strike. I think if I remember this e-learning, I think it has to do more with primary schools and not universities.

“I don’t think because we’re having challenges with the university lecturers, we should stop primary school students in continuing with their education.

“I wish that the ASUU issue is as simple as many of us think it is. I don’t think it’s that simple. But I want to assure you that a lot is going on behind the scenes.

“I think probably the Minister of Education will be better positioned to give the details. But like any government, if we’re not concerned, we would not set up all the committees which have been working.

“If we are not concerned, we will not be looking for means to even assuage the feelings of the union.

“We’re worried, we’re concerned, and we’ll continue to work towards finding an early resolution of the problem,” Mohammed stated.

The Star