EDUCATION: EDUCATION MINISTERS SAYS ASUU STRIKE WILL SOON BE CALLED OFF.

As the indefinite strike embarked upon by the  Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) entered its seventh week, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, has raised hopes that the impasse with the government would soon be resolved, judging from the level of interaction between both parties.

Rufai, speaking after the mid term policy review meeting of the Four-year Strategic Plan of the ministry in Abuja yesterday, disclosed that the stakeholders’ meeting, which would harmonise all the demands of the various unions in the university system would hold in Abuja today.
Benue State Governor and Chairman, NEEDS Implementation Committee, Gabriel Suswan, would oversee the meeting.

“In terms of where we are with ASUU, you know we have been meeting all these while, and  government is talking with their officials to see to it  that we address these challenges," Rufa'i said.

“We  have a responsibility and we are working on that responsibility, we are going to continue meeting with ASUU tomorrow (today), we hope that by the end of the meeting, we will go a long way in resolving the crisis,” she added.

Speaking earlier during the policy review meeting, the minister reiterated that the sector remains a critical component to the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

She identified four issues which should be addressed in order to achieve the set goals: strengthening institutional management of education, teacher education and development, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and Funding, and resource mobilisation and utilisation.

“Education is key to achieving and sustaining the goals of a Nigerian society that must develop its citizens as assets so that they can support the drive for competitive advantage,’’ Rufa'i said.

She noted that in spite of the achievements being recorded in the sector, a lot of challenges still remained unattended to.