The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has said that the Federal Government is not buoyant enough to borrow 1.2 trillion naira yearly to resolve the lingering strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

He said the government will not allow ASUU to push it to plunge into another burden of borrowings.

Keyamo made this assertion while featuring in a programme on Channels Television.

He noted that the federal government has made reasonable efforts in making sure the strike comes to an end, but the striking ASUU members did not yield to its pleas.

“You cannot allow one sector of the economy to hold you by the jugular and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion for overheads when our total income would be about N6.1 trillion. And you have roads to build, health centres to build, other sectors to take care of,” he said

Keyamo, then, called on Nigerian parents and guardians whose children are affected by the ongoing shutdown of academic activities in government-owned universities to appeal to the Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off the lingering strike.

“I will tell the parents, everybody to go and beg ASUU like the President said the other time, those who know them should appeal to their sense of patriotism. The nation can not ground to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU”.

ASUU had declared a nationwide strike on Monday, February 14, 2022.

ALSO READ: Security: Impeach Buhari Now – Reno Omokri