The Presidential campaign spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Festus Keyamo SAN, has said that it is unrealistic for the federal government to borrow funds to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), as there are other sectors that need the government’s intervention too.
Keyamo made the statement on Channels TV’s Politics Today where he was a guest on Friday, August 5, 2022,
Recall that ASUU initially proceeded on a 2-week warning strike on February 14, 2022, morphing into a 7-month total strike, which was further extended for another 4 weeks on Monday, August 1, 2022.
Keyamo, speaking on the show, said the FG will not allow ASUU to blackmail it into borrowing N1.2tn yearly, while other sectors of the economy need attention.
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He said, “Should we go and borrow to pay N1.2 trillion yearly?
“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 further asked parents to hold ASUU responsible, asking them to call on the union to be patriotic and return to the classrooms.
“Like the President said the other time, those who know them, appeal to their sense of patriotism,” he said.
“Let them go back to classes. They are not the only one in Nigeria. They are not the only ones feeding from the federal purse. The nation cannot grind to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU.”