Resign & Farm Comments: Ministry Replies ASUU, Says Union’s Outburst Against Minister, Misguided

The Federal Ministry of Education has reacted to recent comments credited to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in which it asked the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, to resign and go into farming.

The minister had in an interview advised ASUU members to consider the option of farming as a veritable tool for employment.

“Government is actually not holding anyone to ransom. It says ‘this is how I want to pay and it has to be through IPPIS (Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System)’ You can leave the employment. You can opt out of it and say ‘I no longer want to teach’. You can find other professions. What we need now are probably more farmers,” Nwajiuba had said.

But, it did not go down well with ASUU, as one of its chairmen, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, of the University of Ibadan, berated the minister for his rhetoric, adding that he should resign.

“If the Minister of State for Education is interested in farming, he should resign his appointment and stop displaying his cluelessness of the problems in the education sector,” he said.

However, the ministry maintained that ASUU misinterpreted the junior minister.

“The attention of the Federal Ministry of Education has been drawn to publications in some national dailies to the effect that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) has called on the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, to resign his appointment and take up farming as a profession.

“This is in response to a statement supposedly made by the Hon. Minister advising members of ASUU to resign from the teaching profession and take to farming instead.

“We wish to categorically state that the Minister was quoted out of context.

“The Minister was encouraging members of the Association and Nigerians in general to take up farming as an alternative source of income,” the ministry stressed in a statement on Thursday, signed by its Spokesperson, Ben Bem Goong.

It added that agriculture was a huge opportunity for all Nigerians to explore.

“This is in line with the present administration’s developmental agenda of refocusing on agriculture for econonmic diversification.

“Furthermore, farming is the only profession in which civil servants are constitutionally
empowered to engage in even while they are working.

“Agriculture helps boost food security. National development, as well as provide economic empowerment for Nigerians.

“The Federal Ministry of Education is therefore surprised at the ourburst of ASUU on the Minister’s statement as there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking up farming while still working. The Hon. Minister of State is on point.

“The outburst of the Academic Staff Union of Universities is clearly a matter of transferred aggression, totally unfounded, misguided and absolutely unnecessary,” it stated.

ASUU had been on an indefinite strike since March 23 over disagreements with the federal government, bordering on funding of tertiary institutions.