The face-off between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities has continued to deepen with the government insisting that Nigeria is the only country where lecturers walk away after shutting down Universities.

The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, said these in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Monday.

He said, “The reason we want ASUU back in school is that there is a purpose for which we built these Universities. In other places in the world, you can’t shut down the University system and just walk away.

“It is only in Nigeria they do it and that is why, repeatedly over the years, it had become a crack; people just take joy in destroying the lives of these young men, so that they will be on the streets, so that they will do protest.

“This has nothing to do with the government. The monies government is going to pay these lecturers are monies gotten from other incomes; the monies are Nigerian people’s money and we hand it over to lecturers for a job they brought them to do for Nigerians and they don’t want to do it, they just collect their money and walk away.”

The minister advised lecturers not willing to continue teaching to leave the system for those who are interested.