Stakeholders in the education sector have expressed outrage over comment by Chris Ngige minister of Labour and Employment that the suspension of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) depends on the lecturers.
According to them, the comment smarks of insensitivity and lack of empathy required of his office and person as self acclaimed conciliator.
They further said that the comment has further exposed the government and some of its officials as lacking the understanding of human capital development as essential instrument for development
Ngige who made the comment when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, calling for the varsity lecturers to be considerate.
“It depends on ASUU. The ball is in their court. They should go and meet the Benimi Briggs Committee and look at what the committee is doing and make further inputs so that the work can be accelerated,” he said during the current affairs show.
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But some of the stakeholders have berated him for not being able to liaise with his colleagues to resolve the recurring issues, but just went ahead to be praising himself as being able to bring about industrial peace and harmony in the country.
"The greatest disservice, among many by this government is the kind of people manning sensitive ministries like education, labour and employment, power and steel, among others.
I heard Ngige say during his declaration of intention to contest for president that he was able to resolve over 90 percent of industrial disputes since he assumed headship of the ministry, but some of us are yet to see the truthfulness in the assertion, “ says a stakeholder, who pleaded for anonymity.
To another concerned stakeholder, “It is an irony for government that initially denied existence of subsidy payment and regarded it as a fraud to earmark N4 trillion for same subsidy but cannot spend N200 billion On Universities, it is a shame.“
