Striking varsity teachers should be prepared to make sacrifice, Education Minister Adamu Adamu said yesterday.

He, however, said that everything possible will be done to end the almost seven-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The minister hinted that government may not rescind its decision on the application of its no-work, no-pay rule.

Speaking last night on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, the minister said government and the union have returned to the drawing board.

Stating that he was scheduled to meet ASUU President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the minister noted the strike had impacted him negatively and that government would be careful in signing a pact that would be sustainable with the lecturers.

He said: “In all we have been doing, our guide has been the directive of Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari, namely, that while the unions should be persuaded to return to work, the government should not repeat the past mistakes of accepting to sign an agreement it will be unable to implement.”

The implementation of the proposed salary review will begin in January next year.

Read Also; Strike: Students should ‘take ASUU to court’ – Adamu

Adamu said he met with the ASUU leadership last week in a bid to find a lasting solution to the industrial action.

On the no-work, no pay rule, the minister said: “No, the federal government is not rescinding that decision. Let me just take it holistically. Unions make a lot of sacrifices and we appreciate that.  But, there can’t be sacrifices without paying some prices. The Federal Government has taken a position that they will not pay any worker who goes on strike.”

Asked if the lecturers will be losing seven-month pay, the minister said: “That is, if they call the strike off today. But if the government rescinds its stand on that policy, it will be good news and motivation to the lecturers. I don’t think that the government will rescind its decision. I don’t think they need to have that motivation as there are many things they should do to return to work.”

“I don’t think that the government is out to punish anybody, especially since it is something you already knew in advance.”

Adamu, who insisted that the students will never regain the lost time said:  “They will never regain the lost time.  That is why those who say when they go back they are going to teach, I don’t see how they’ll be able to do it because time has already been lost. And this is very, very, sad.”

He said the president feels very, very, sad over the strike.

Irrespective of the incessant industrial action, he said the Buhari administration will be leaving a lot of legacy behind for the incoming government in education.

“Though, I don’t have the data handy, I can tell you that there has not been any government that has made access to tertiary education seamless like the Buhari administration,” he said.

Promising an end to the strike soon, Adamu said: “Fellow Nigerians, I sit here, promising you that I will do the best that I can to see that the ASUU strike is over.

“And even without making this pledge to you, my intention is to meet the president of ASUU immediately after this interview. And that meeting will be in continuation of what we have been doing before. I don’t have enough words to describe the weight I feel from this strike on my shoulder. And I’ll do the best that I can to end it.”

He spoke of plans by the government to provide N150 billion in the 2023 Budget for the revitalisation of federal universities.

The funds, he said, will be disbursed in the first quarter of next year.

Lamenting the low-ranking of Nigerian varsities, Adamu assured that the government would do its best to reverse the trend.