Deputy Education Minister, Mahama Ayariga is pleading with striking university lecturers to give the ministry a little more time to finalise processes for the payment of salary arrears due them. The lecturers declared a nationwide strike Thursday, saying government had refused to pay them their 10-month arrears despite assurances to do so. There was little activity on the campuses of the University of Ghana and the University for Development Studies Friday morning. However, from Kumasi, Luv FM’s Kwabena Ampratwum reported that the effects of the strike were not being felt on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) when he visited. He said lecturers were still teaching and that all normal academic work was ongoing. In an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News Friday, Mahama Ayariga said the Ministry was working hard with the Finance Ministry as well as the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to ensure that correct computations were done to avoid discrepancies. He apologised to the lecturers for the delays, but said the administrative and technical processes had to be exhausted to ensure due diligence was done. Mahama Ayariga commended the lecturers for exercising restraint and showing consideration since the beginning of the negotiations and said the current action could be the result of the teachers running out of patience, however he urged them to bear with the ministry as it works to address their demands.