The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Nasir Fagge, has accused the federal government of not telling Nigerians the truth about the demand of the union as regards the government’s statement that the union's demand has been met.
According to Fagge, ASUU had a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the federal government for it to spend over N3 trillion to turn around the fortune of all federal and state universities and also to better the lot of the educational sector in the country.

“The agreement is for the federal government to spend N800 billion yearly for the next four years, but what we have is government talking about N130 billion which is very insignificant," he said.

Fagge made the revelation Tuesday, while fielding questions from journalists, at the end of the congress of the Benue State University chapter of ASUU, in Makurdi.

He said: "Our demands are genuine, and it is based on the mutual agreement entered into in 2009 by government and ASUU. We urge the government to be responsible to that agreement.

"President Goodluck Jonathan said the strike is being politicised but the truth is that it is government that is playing politics with our demands. It is as if every problem in this country is now being politicised.

"I want to ask one basic question: Is it political to ask government to be responsible enough to implement an agreement she willingly entered into.

"It is important to state clearly that we are a union of intellectuals, and we cannot accept a situation were the tail will wag the dog. Whatever we do is for the betterment of the Nigerian university system.”

In addition, the ASUU national president said: "It is important to place on record that the struggle is a continuous one but the implementation of the 2009 agreement is key to improving on facilities in our universities and placing it at par with what we have in other parts of the world."

bloggernaija: These guys like the politicians are a bunch of jokers .
Lazy ,unthinking typical Nigerian .
In that organisation ,is there nobody there to do the maths that Nigeria cannot afford that much money ,even if the country was not corrupt?
That is about $7 billion in a country where over 50% are very very poor.

bloggernaija: These guys like the politicians are a bunch of jokers .
Lazy ,unthinking typical Nigerian .
In that organisation ,is there nobody there to do the maths that Nigeria cannot afford that much money ,even if the country was not corrupt?
That is about $7 billion in a country where over 50% are very very poor.

berem: Did Ngozi Okonjo Iweala or Sanusi Lamido tell you the FG doesn't have that kind of money to give to ASUU? Sentiments aside,FG should stop telling Nigerians that the strike is being politicized and pay the gaddiem money to ASUU! My younger brother is already tired of staying at home!

0monnakoda: You are the one who is lazy and unthinking. Nigeria cannot afford? $7 Billion over what period 1 week ,1 month? I would rather not have fuel subsidy than the rubbish our Universities churn out much of which is on display on Nairaland. Nigerians spend billions on private universities and foreign ones too. We need to have a debate about HOW university education is funded. Going forward it probably should not be free and students need to pay more realistic fees.Government should decide to privatize many if not all the universities. Apart from corruption there is a lot of waste in our government eg Presidential jets ,Aso rock Feeding budget etc.
In just one year GEJ spent over 1 trilion naira that was NOT in the budget n fraudulent SUBSIDY bills so it is not true there is no money but even if there is money . I still argue students should pay tuition,and standards shoud be raised so our Universities can be competitive and PROFITABLE

berem: Did Ngozi Okonjo Iweala or Sanusi Lamido tell you the FG doesn't have that kind of money to give to ASUU? Sentiments aside,FG should stop telling Nigerians that the strike is being politicized and pay the gaddiem money to ASUU! My younger brother is already tired of staying at home!

Dpeacemaker101: he should beg his lecturers to go back to school, cause the amount they are asking for is outrageous my dear. Remember we still have other sectors of the economy that also needs funding.

berem: Did Ngozi Okonjo Iweala or Sanusi Lamido tell you the FG doesn't have that kind of money to give to ASUU? Sentiments aside,FG should stop telling Nigerians that the strike is being politicized and pay the gaddiem money to ASUU! My younger brother is already tired of staying at home!

Dpeacemaker101: he should beg his lecturers to go back to school, cause the amount they are asking for is outrageous my dear. Remember we still have other sectors of the economy that also needs funding.

yunglykmine: They shuld have asked for the whole annual budget nau..

deejay_harry1: YHUR YOUNGER BROTHER, OR YOU?? HMMM

Ayed44: . This demand is outrageous. ASUU is not d only the problem facing Nigeria, there are other problems all over d place. In as much as i'm in support of ASUU trying to make d FG to provide basic infrastrucure in our universities, we should note dat turning around d infrastructure in d universities cannot be achieved in 4 short years. It is going to be a gradual and continous process. Let us be realistic!

Greatken007: WHO IS AT THE LOOSING END?I GUESS STUDENTS AND THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA...THIS IS PURE POLITICS TO DISCREDIT GEJ GOVERNMENT.I CAN BET ANYTHING,ASUU REQUEST IS FOR THEIR OWN BENEFITS AND NOT TO THE UNIVERSITIES THEY GOVERN...WHAT IS WORLD BANK STEP-B MEANT FOR?WHAT IS FG GRANT DESIGNED FOR?WHERE ARE THE MONEY THAT WERE GENERATED FROM ALL PROGRAMS INCLUDING POST UME GOING TO?FG DOES NT HAVE SUCH MONEY TO WASTE.SOME PPLE DONT REALLY KNOW THE GRAVITY OF 3 TRILLION.