Nigeria Backs Down on Sacking Striking Lecturers

Nigeria's government on Wednesday gave striking university lecturers a temporary reprieve, extending a deadline for them to return to work or be sacked.

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who walked out on July 1 leaving hundreds of thousands of students in limbo, had been given an ultimatum to get back behind their desks by Wednesday or be dismissed.

But the ministry of education said it had moved back the date until Monday as a mark of respect for the former ASUU president, who was killed in a car crash two weeks ago and whose funeral takes place this week.

The ASUU walked out in opposition to what they claimed was the government's failure to implement a 2009 agreement to improve their welfare and upgrade crumbling infrastructure.

Nigeria has about 1.2 million students in public and private universities, according to the National Universities Commission.