The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has advised Nigerian students to institute legal action to claim compensation for the time lost during the period the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based unions were on strike.

Adamu said it is not the responsibility of the government to compensate students for the time wasted during the six-month strike.

The minister said this on Thursday at the 47th session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He further stated that the Federal Government would not accept the ASUU’s demand to pay lecturers their earnings for the six months they did not perform any academic activities.

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Adamu, who suggested that the affected students should “take ASUU to court” to claim damages incurred during the industrial action, said the Federal Government bears no liability to compensate millions of students who missed their academic activities.

The minister further disclosed that five of the university-based unions will likely call off their strike within the next one week while that of ASUU remains uncertain.

Adamu stated that in spite of the N2.5 trillion expended on education by President Buhari’s administration through the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) as well as Universal Basic Education (UBEC), surpassing the N1.2 trillion demanded by ASUU, university lecturers maintained their position to embark on what he described as a needless strike.

The minister, however, said ASUU has begun consultations with their members to determine whether to call off their strike.

The Star