End to ASUU strikes answer to my prayers — Tinubu

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President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday in Abuja said the absence of strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities was an answer to his prayers.

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Tinubu made the remarks when he received the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

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Tinubu acknowledged the economic hardship Nigerians had endured under his watch but told the clergymen that stability was taking hold and that prosperity was now visible on the horizon.

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“I inherited the assets and liabilities of my predecessor, and I’ve been running with it. But this government has stabilised and there is prosperity on the horizon. The quality of life is improving,” he said.

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He cited the absence of ASUU strikes as one of the measurable improvements in the lives of Nigerian families.

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“None of your children in university today, and I would say they are all your children because you are Reverend Fathers, can say a four-year course is not four years.

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“ASUU is not on strike. They are not bringing agony to your homes. Is that not an answer to our prayers? To me, that’s an answer,” he said.

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The remark follows ASUU’s history of prolonged industrial action in Nigeria’s public universities.

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Between 1999 and 2022, ASUU had called strikes totalling over five years of lost academic time, with the most recent being a nine-month strike in 2022, the longest in the union’s history.

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Tinubu argued that no prolonged ASUU strike has been recorded since he assumed office in May 2023, a period that also coincides with the administration’s launch of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

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On security, the President said, “The security situation is what it is. We don’t have another country but here. This Nigeria. And we revert to our national anthem, in its complexity, diversity, we shall thrive, rejoice and be good to all of us.”

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The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, founded in 1956, is one of the most influential religious bodies in the country, with significant reach in education, healthcare and social services across the country’s predominantly Christian south and in several northern states.

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