‘Why hold Buhari by the neck’ – Presidency queries lecturers 

The Presidency has queried the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, over the lingering strike.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, wondered why ASUU was holding the President by the neck over an agreement not signed by his government.

Shehu recalled that the agreement in contention was signed in 2009 by the then Federal Government.

Featuring on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, Shehu said Buhari’s government cannot meet their demand 100 percent.

He disclosed that the Federal Government needs to pay attention to other sectors of the country.

According to Shehu, the military needs weapons to fight terrorists, hence government can’t pay all its attention on ASUU alone.

He said: “As for ASUU, the president has the right to appeal on behalf of Nigerians, this is six months or more of the ongoing strike.

“Is it right for anyone to insist on taking 100 percent of all of those grievances that they have? Don’t forget that what is the cause of this problem is a 2009 agreement with the then government that they have no capacity to deliver upon and have passed it from one government to another.

“So, we might ask the question, why is Buhari being held by the neck? What happened in the past? Why didn’t they strangle those past administrations on these matters? That’s our worries.

“The Federal Government has put a lot of substance on the table. Will the Federal Government yield to 100 percent of ASUU demands, I want say.

“There are also other sectors of the economy yearning for attention, the military need weapons, guns to fight terrorists. We have to look into other sectors of the economy.

“The Minister of State for Education has assured that we are about to turn the corner and all these issues are about to be resolved. We have reached this level in the past and my prayer is that it would soon end.

“They have family members and leaders within the community, so they should prevail on them to resume classes and those elements that have not being resolved can be talked over.”

This is coming when Buhari urged the academic body to consider the future of students and call off the lingering industrial action.