Earlyface

The Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim
Shekarau, has reassured the Academic Staff Union
of Polytechnics (ASUP) of his commitment to
resolving issues raised in its demands from the
Federal Government.
He said that the Chairman of the Council, Mr Ebenezer
Babatope, had felicitated with the minister on his
appointment and commended him for resolving the
strike shortly after assumption of office.
The Special Adviser (Media) to the minister, Dr Nnamdi
Olebara, made this known in an interview with the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
"The minister described the demands of ASUP and
other unions as germane and appropriate but paucity
of fund in the face of competing demands was
responsible for the delay.’’
``The White Paper on the Needs Assessment Report
was already before the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation for onward presentation to the
President for his consideration and approval as
working a document,’’ Olebara quoted the minister
telling the delegation.
``He also reminded the minister that the three
months ultimatum given by ASUP was fast running to
an end; hence the need to assess the level of
preparedness on the part of the government in order
to avert another strike,’’ he said.
ASUP had on July 12, called off its 11-month strike
which started in October 2013 after an appeal from the
minister.