by ‘Jola Sotubo

Despite the 6-month strike that was embarked upon for just that purpose, the N220 billion allocation promised to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by the Federal Government has still not been released.

This was disclosed by the President of ASUU, Nasir Fagge, yesterday, February 3, during an interview via telephone.

Fagge added that the reason for the delay is the busy schedule of the Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike.

The Telegraph reports:

Fagge said that the Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, who is the head of the implementation committee, is always busy and this has prevented him (Wike) from having regular meetings with the union. “At the moment, Wike is not in the country,” Fagge said before expressing the hope that when Wike returned to the country, the 2013 allocation for revitalisation of the country’s universities will be disbursed.

“The minister has been busy all this while and now he has travelled again. We had requested that someone who is less busy be given to us so that we can have regular meetings but it has not been the case.

“We hope that when the minister returns from his latest trip, our 2013 allocation out of the N200 billion for the revitalisation of our universities will be disbursed.

“Part of our agreement also was the fact that our annual allocation of N220 billion will be made available on a quarterly basis.

“So, we expect that part of the amount for the first quarter will be disbursed as well when we finally meet,” Fagge said.

Calls to the office of the Minister of Education were unanswered, but contrary to Mr. Fagge’s allegation on his not being in the country, Mr. Wike appeared on a Channels TV programme in Abuja yesterday.