Skip to main content

ASUU Strike Continues As FG Insists Union Demands Cant Be Met

Hopes of quick resolution of the present face-off between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities were dashed some minutes ago as the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the government has no resources to meet the union demands.

Foreclosing possible truce to the five-week old industrial action that has paralysed academic activities in the nation’s ivory towers, Okonjo-Iwela said the striking university lecturers were asking for #92 billion in extra allowances, maintaining that government lack means of picking the bill.

Speaking in Minna at the annual National Council on Finance and Economic Development meeting, the minister said that ASUU demand was coming at a time government was making efforts at reducing the structure of public expenditures.

The theme of the meeting is: “Restructuring Nigeria’s Finances.”

She said, “At present ASUU wants the government to pay N92 billion in extra allowances when resources are not there and when we are working to integrate past increases in pensions. We need to make choices in this country as we are getting to the stage where recurrent expenditures takethe bulk of our resources and people get paid but can do no work.”

She declared that if the demands of the university lecturers are met and “we continue to pay them salaries and allowances we will not be able to provide infrastructure in the universities.”

The minister argued that when she assumed office “the share of recurrent expenditure in our total budgets had increased astronomically.“

“In fact recurrent expenditures accounted for about 77.2 per cent of the federal budget and we are now working to re-balance this ratio,”the minister added.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DO YOU WANT TO BECOME A MASON IN NIGERIA

 After all i have said about this fraternity if you are still interested in becoming a mason there are just simply ways in which you can do that, but inspite of my post i am neither encouraging nor discouraging you all i am doing is just to let you know more about this frat and there's more to come about those who have joined, the so called stars like jay-z, kanye west etc i guess its just 7 simple ways to join and off you go  Are there things you want to accomplish in your life? Are there ways you want to enrich yourself? Do you enjoy being with people you like and respect? As a Freemason, you’ll find friendship and fraternity. You’ll develop life skills like self-confidence, leadership, and effective communication. You’ll learn to work as part of a team  and to better yourself as you help others. Think about taking the first step into becoming a Mason. It is widely thought that one must be invited to become a Freemason or that Freemasonry is so exclusive as to be b...

Police Introduce Biometric Vehicle Registration

The Police said the introduction of a new Biometric Central Motor Registration (BCMR) is designed to fight terrorism, Kidnapping and car theft in the country. Police force spokesman CSP Frank Mba made this known at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday. He said the registration take effect from Monday next week and would involve the registration processes of vehicles, tricycles and auto-bikes from the analogue to the new system. He argued that the decision informing the introduction of the new process was against the backdrop of contemporary security challenges bordering on terrorism, high incidence of car theft, carjacking, kidnappings and other crimes. Mba said unlike the analogue procedure, the new method operate on smart-cards and portable hand-held receiver and is a specially developed technological means of attaching automobile owner's unique traits and personal data to their vehicles for proper identification and protection purposes. He said the new system is d...

Microsoft Is About To Leave One-Third Of All Computers Vulnerable To Hacking

Hundreds of millions of computers running everything from ATMs to the power grid will be vulnerable to hacking next month when Microsoft stops supporting its old Windows XP operating system. Hackers have been holding onto flaws in Windows XP and waiting to exploit them until after the software giant stops issuing security updates on April 8, experts say. Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm, said it was “fairly dangerous” to continue using the 12-year-old operating system because after the deadline “victims can’t defend themselves.” “I certainly wouldn't run Windows XP after the 8th," Meyers said in an interview. Microsoft announced six years ago it will no longer provide security patches or technical support for the out-of-date software. Yet about  one-third of computers  around the world -- or about 500 million PCs -- still run Windows XP. On Microsoft’s website , a clock ticks down to next month’s Windows deadline an...