If the words of the Minister of Finance, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are to be believed, the
five-week old strike action by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may not
be resolved anytime soon as she declared
that government has no resources to meet the union’s demands. Speaking earlier today in Minna at the
annual National Council on Finance and
Economic Development meeting with
theme, “Restructuring Nigeria’s Finances”,
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala explained that the
striking university lecturers were asking for N92 billion in extra allowances; an obligation
the Federal Government cannot meet as it
moves to reduce the structure of public
expenditures. According to the coordinating minister for
the economy, “At present ASUU wants the
government to pay N92 billion in extra
allowances when resources are not there
and when we are working to integrate past
increases in pensions. We need to make choices in this country as we are getting to
the stage where recurrent expenditures
take the bulk of our resources and people
get paid but can do no work.” She argued that if the demands of the
striking lecturers are met and “we continue
to pay them salaries and allowances, we will
not be able to provide infrastructure in the
universities.” The minister noted that when she assumed
office “the share of recurrent expenditure
in our total budgets had increased
astronomically. “ “In fact recurrent expenditures accounted
for about 77.2 per cent of the federal
budget and we are now working to re-
balance this ratio,” she added.
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