Index to Nigerian Newspapers

The Federal Government yesterday urge the Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) to reconsider the "comprehensive, total and indefinite strike action" it declared on Monday.The government said it had invested in education sector, especially the universities. Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opaih, made a presentation to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutiions and TETfund during an oversight visit to the Federal Ministry of Education. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Public Affairs, Kelechi Mejuobi, Opiah said all demands of ASUU had been met. He said Federal Government only came up with a standard principle of "no work, no pay" which he said was a universal policy. "The govornment has yielded to all the demands of ASUU. The only thing is that government does`nt support anyone who doesn`t work but wants pay", the minister of state said. Opiah, who stood in for Minister of Eduction, Mallam Adamu Adamu, belives more had been spent through TETFUND on universities in infrastructure than ASUU requested. He said the issues related to welfare had also been settled. The minister of state, however, did not provide specifics of ASUU`s academic he claimed the government met. Apart from seeking payment of the withheld salaries of its members, ASUU is demanding for the revisitation of public universities: payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) Eared ALLOWANCES (EA) and payment of salary shortfalls.