Abdullahi Ganduje, the governor of Kano State, declared that the country’s university system must survive the ongoing conflict between the Nigerian government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has been on strike since February, was supported by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Kano Chapter, which took part in the nationwide demonstration on Tuesday.
The Kano Government House served as the focal point of the solidarity demonstrations, which began at the NLC state office on Katsina Road in Fagge and ended there.
At the Government House, Mr. Ganduje emphasized that the problem needed to be resolved in order to avert the collapse of tertiary education.
“This crisis must be resolved to help save the system. We don’t want the system to collapse in this country at all,” Mr Ganduje said.
He claimed that the lecturers’ strike is intended to prevent the system from failing.
The governor expressed sympathy to all of the nation’s students who had missed six months of school.
In his remarks, Mr. Ganduje was complimented for paying lecturers in Kano state-owned universities despite the strike action by Kabiru Ado, Chairman of the NLC’s Kano chapter.
“Myself and my colleagues from all the 36 states, irrespective of our party differences are concerned about the prolonged strike action and we will put our heads together to bring an end to the crisis”, the governor said.
“We appreciate the state government under your able leadership, the people’s governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for your magnanimous approach in not stopping the salary of the teachers of two state universities.
“This shows you are an education-friendly governor,” Mr Ado said.
ASUU and other education-related trade unions have been on strike because they claim the government has broken a deal it made with them to improve benefits for their members and provide more financing for institutions.
