How My Govt Resolved Four-Month ASUU Strike In One Night, Says Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday told the gathering that came to celebrate the 70th birthday of the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Hassan Kukah, how his government resolved a lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in one night.
According to him, the varsity teachers have been on strike for four months, a situation he felt was not good enough for the future of the country and his administration tried to tackle one such industrial action.
He said: “The society we are managing is quite complex. Yes, I was the president and I tried my best. Now, we are talking about ASUU strike. During my time too, ASUU had four months of strike. Different committees were meeting but nothing was working. I said ‘How can our children stay out of school for four good months?”
He said he had to call a meeting of all the leadership of ASUU. and presided over the meeting with his vice president. The Attorney General was there.” I said that that night we must solve the problem. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation was there; the ministers of education were there; the labour ministers were there; the finance ministers and everybody that had to do with it the strike was there”
“And I thought that my being there would help us to do things quickly. But we spent the whole night. We finished like 5:30 am and the strike was called off. So, there were issues,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan also spoke about the country’s democracy, asking Nigerians to protect it from derailing into fascism. According to him, democracy remains the best bet to manage the nation’s diversity.
The former President extolled Bishop Kukah, and urged clergymen to always speak against bad leadership in society.
The event had in attendance top dignitaries including the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu; governors; former ministers among others.
