The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced their rejection of the 20 billion Naira fund offered by the Federal Government. Just days after the minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a 20 billion Naira fund for all public Universities to help revitalize the Universities, National President of ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi has announced the Union’s rejection of the 20 billion Naira Fund.

The National President of the Union disclosed this to newsmen at the union’s Lagos chapter press briefing at the University of Lagos as a response to the 20 billion offer by the Federal Government.

Professor Biodun Ogunyemi while speaking at the press conference described the 20 billion Naira fund as a blackmail and also explained that the Federal Government’s decision to offer 20 billion Naira fund rather than honour the agreement between ASUU and the Federal Government goes to show that the government’s concern on education is not encouraging.

He also stated that ASUU as a national union is not ready to back down easily or succumb to any form blackmail by the Federal Government as the union is ready to go on an indefinite strike if the government fails to do the needful.

Below is an extract from the statement released by Professor Biodun Ogunyemi at the press briefing

“We are very saddened by the way the government is handling the various agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it has entered into with us.

“We have remained focused and committed on our part to ensure that we keep our own side of the bargain, just as we have equally been patient.

“Now, in the face of all these, we still discover that government seems not bothered about what might happen, and that is why we are stating categorically that we will not hesitate to take necessary action to get the government to understand us in our struggle to revitalise our universities.

“It is on this premise that we are calling on the government to take immediate and active steps to restore the much-needed sanity in our university system as well as the process of renegotiation with the union, to avert any possible action that could disrupt the academic calendar of Nigerian universities.“