In a statement made available to our reporter at the week­end, the University’s spokesman, Muhammad Zakari, said despite offers by government to resolve the impasse, the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Uni­versities (ASUU) has refused to shift ground on its demands. On the demands in contention, Zakari explained that sufficient ef­forts are ongoing to resolve grey areas, while some of the issues are already being attended to by gov­ernment. He urged ASUU to ex­ercise restraint in the interest of students and academic stability of the university. On the vexed issue of Earned Academic Allowance, the image maker explained that through In­ternally Generated Revenue (IGR) and government assistance, the university has offset 60 per cent of the over N850 million that was accumulated. He said that government had offered to pay additional 15 per cent on condition that the strike action was called off, while the re­maining 25 per cent would be set­tled in November 2016 and March 2017. On ASUU demands for a re­view in tax regime, promotion guidelines and the other issues on the table, Zakari maintained that government had set up var­ious committees to look into the grievances and come up with workable solutions. “In the light of the foregoing, let it be known that the above of­fers by Government and the uni­versity Governing Council were contained in a memo it wrote to ASUU NSUK leadership dated 6th April 2016. Let it be known also that ASUU flatly rejected this offers in its response dated 12th April 2016, variously describing them as vague, unilateral, lacking a clear framework and implemen­tation timelines,” he said. When our reporter sought the response of NSUK’s ASUU President, Dr Theophilus Lagi on the issue, he alleged that government has been consistently insincere, hence cannot be trust­ed anymore]]>