ASUU Strike: NANS to Engage FG Over Keyamo’s No Money Comment

Kuni Tyessi

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) is set for fresh engagement with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige and Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, over alleged reports that the Federal Government has no money to meet the demands of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

NANS has, however, dissociated itself from a report calling for the sack of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, by some “faceless students.”.

NANS Vice President (Special Duties), Comrade Odiahi Thomas Ikhine, who addressed a news conference on Monday in Abuja, said the students were unhappy with comments credited to the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, that the government has no money to meet the demands of ASUU.

Keyamo was said to have asked parents to beg ASUU to call off the strike because the government could not afford the N1.2 trillion demands of the Union as proposed by the Emeritus Prof Nimi Briggs Committee on the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.

Ikhine said NANS leadership would meet with Adamu and Ngige for a clearer picture of the situation.

He also clarified that NANS did not call for Emefiele’s sack.

“We, therefore, wish to dissociate ourselves and the name of our organization from the unpatriotic call for the sack of the CBN governor. It is our belief that the CBN governor needed to be given moral support,” explained Ikhine.

He added, “We call on security agencies to do their best in bringing impostors who go about heating polity and engaging in actions capable of affecting national security and stability to book, especially at this time of fragile national security experience.”

Meanwhile, NANS has disclosed that the current leadership of the association is in the process of transferring power to the next administration.

“This month’s end, from all indications, this administration will transmit power to an organisation that will be run based on available rules and regulations in the constitution,” he said.