IBADAN — Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Wednesday, described claim by the Federal Government that N130billion had been released to universities as untrue.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the Federal Government’s insincere and amateurish handling of the strike that has paralyzed academic work in public universities in the country for the third month running.

THIS missive is to appeal to members of Academic Staffs Union of Universities, ASUU, individually and collectively, to consider the plight of innocent students and their helpless parents and return to work.

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has lashed out at the Information Minister, Labaran Maku, for saying Nigeria would shut down if the Federal Government conceded to the demands of university teachers.

THE on-going strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has become a source of concern as it has brought untold pain to parents and guardians whose children and wards are idling away when they are supposed to be in classrooms.

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State has said the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is becoming a political action other than an agitation for the welfare of university lecturers.

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, has expressed worries over the prolonged strike embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and urged the Federal Government to hasten peace moves in the interest of Nigerian students.

The lingering industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which enters its third month, has been greeted with reactions from Nigerian mothers who lamented the face- off between the Federal Government and the union and expressed readiness to wade into the matter.

PRESIDENT of Campaign for Democracy, a human rights group, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, has advised the Federal Government to comply with the agreement reached between her and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, so that the union would call off the strike, saying that giving piecemeal money would not help to improve the education sector.

The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has commended the decision of the National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to mediate in the current face-off between the Federal Government and striking lecturers under ASUU.

THERE are very practical but undesirable consequences to the terrible situation in our universities. The wrong people, staff and students, find their way into our universities, the very space in which we expect to train and provide leadership for the country’s quest for scientific and cultural rebirth and development.

When the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, embarked on a national strike on July 1, 2013 due to the refusal of Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement it signed with the union which had several components, including adequate funding of education sector, Nigerians feared another long winter for their children forced to return home.

In spite of the several negotiations between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the subsequent release of N130 billion for infrastructural development and allowances to the striking lecturers, ASUU, said the stike would continue until the 2009 Agreement entered into by both parties is fully implemented.

It’s been two months since the Academic Staff Union of Universities embarked on a nationwide indefinite strike. This was as a result of the inability of the Federal Government to implement some of the issues contained in a 2009 agreement it had with ASUU. Recently Saturday Vanguard spoke with parents whose children are affected as they begged the government to reach a compromise with ASUU .

Former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Education, Farouk Lawal, yesterday, appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to return to the negotiating table with the Federal Government to bring an end to the lingering strike.