The Federal Government has admitted its concern about the distortion in the school calendar, assuring on the speedy resolution to end the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The government said it has engaged the lecturers in ‘serious negotiations’.
It is also worried about the fall-out of the lingering strike and its effect on the students, hence, the urgency to end the industrial action as quickly as possible.
Minister of Information Labaran Maku stated the government’s resolve at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja yesterday, urging parents and the affected students to bear with government and show more understanding as efforts are being made to resolve the issues very soon.
Maku said the Federal Government had indeed been worried since the onset of the strike, particularly as there are always social costs incurred by disruption of academic calendar.
“The Federal Government has been far more worried than you think, concerning the strike in tertiary institutions, because of the disruption of the school calendar and so, government is concerned and very worried and since the onset of the strike, government has been negotiating with ASUU through the Ministries of Labour and Productivity and Education.
“As at today, we know that negotiations are going on and it is our expectation that this strike will not get more protracted and that an understanding will be reached soon enough to enable our students return to school. Government is very worried and concerned every time the school calendar is disrupted, it has its cost to the nation, particularly the idle time our children spend at home can lead to a lot of social difficulties.
“We don’t want school calendars to be disrupted and a lot of series of discussions have been going on and we believe we should record some progress soon enough for these schools to re-open and the Ministers of Labour and Education will be giving briefings on the progress of these negotiations and I know that it has never ceased.
“So, we are appealing to our people, particularly parents and children of this nation, to bear with us, to show more understanding and we pray that this type of strike will not re-occur, because the public school system suffers a lot of damage with the perennial strikes. The universities have been relatively stable since the advent of this administration. The strikes that we inherited, we have tried to resolve them, and if you notice in the last two years, there has not been a lot of strikes until this unfortunate one and I believe we will overcome it and in the end, both parties will appreciate the need to keep the school calendar stable for the progress of our country. So, government is working hard to ensure we reach an agreement to resolve this problem, so that our schools can re-open”.
Meanwhile, FEC has approved a contract of N2.99 billion for the rehabilitation/construction of the Calabar-Ugep section of the Katsina-Ala/Ogoja/Ugep/Calabar Road.
The earlier section of the road which is already 80 per cent complete, was awarded for N4.6 billion, thus bringing the total contract sum for the entire road to N7.5 billion
Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda, explained that the contractor, Piccolo Brunelli, which handled the first phase, was asked to continue with the extension since it was already on site and had done a very good job.
Yuguda recalled that “the first phase of the project aimed at addressing the heavily distressed sections of the road while other sections not captured in the original contract scope of works would be addressed when funds became available.
“This is to ensure that government and the public get the full benefits of the investment made on the roads in terms of improvement of the level of service,” he siad.
The council also considered a memo to provide a template for economic analysis of projects before they are included in the budget for appropriation. According to Maku, this template will also include environmental assessment and will ensure that henceforth, projects must follow the masterplan of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda.
Although there is existing assessment, FEC intends the new template to constitute a scientific and thorough analysis of projects, and decided to continue further deliberations on the memo at subsequent meetings of the council.
A FEC committee was also set up to further study the synergy among several factors that come into play in the Public-Private-Partnership involved in power/electricity projects in the country.
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