Simeon Nwakaudu, the spokesperson to the Education Minister, Nyesom Wike, made this statement in an interview to Premium Times on March 27, 2014, Thursday.
He described the previous meeting with the striking lecturers as "productive".
Mr Nwakaudu said that during one of its meetings with the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) both parties had agreed that the Federal Government would attend to four key issues out of the 13 demands the union had tabled.
Wike's spokesperson confirmed that that out of the four issues the Federal Government had done everything possible to attend to three of them.
He explained that if ASUP had accepted the offer of two instalments, the first payment would have been made in March, while the second would be in November. He disclosed that the arrears for both ASUP and Colleges of Educations Academic Staff Union (COEASU) were over N40 billion.
"Such an amount cannot be paid at once. That's why we offered it in two instalments to the unions, but they insisted on getting it in one go.
"However, the economy shows that the funds are not there. Too many issues are being tackled: basic education, tertiary education and all sub sectors of education are also involved," the spokesperson added.
COEASU has recently frowned at a new government order to implement the 'no work, no pay' principle; that would ensure non-payment of salaries to the striking lecturers.
However, Mr Nwakaudu, said his ministry is not involved in that directive and has never issued such, saying if it exists, it would have come from the Labour Ministry.
It would be recalled that striking lecturers have insisted that they would not resume work until all their demands were met. The unions say their demands, when met, will lead improved standards for Nigeria's polytechnics and colleges of education.
Polytechnic lecturers, ASUP, have been on strike since October 2013, while colleges of education lecturers, COEASU, have been on strike since December 2013.
Via; Premium Times
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