FG, ASUU Enters Another Marathon Meeting
Hint strike may be called off soon
The federal government has engaged in another round of meeting with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) with the hope of resolving the lingering industrial action.
This is coming barely 24 hours after the non-academic staffs of the nation’s tertiary institutions announced it would join ASUU in an indefinite strike starting September 11.
However, before the commencement of the latest round of meeting, there were indications that the grey areas will successfully be resolved and the striking teachers will agree to go back to class.
The chief conciliator and Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, in his opening remarks yesterday in Abuja, gave a ray of hope by saying that a lot has been done to reconcile their areas of differences prior to yesterday meeting.
Ngige said various dialogues was held between ASUU and the Minister of Education which is the direct employer of union members,” adding that members of the government team had also met to look into the request of ASUU.
He said: “The meeting, therefore, is convened to smoothen rough edges to bring the almost one month strike to an end.
“We are to break down areas of mistrust, to have a collective bargaining agreement so that education system will go back to life and move forward with academic calendar of our universities.”
The minister appreciated the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, and other heads and representatives of government parastatals and agencies involved in the negotiation process.
The two parties met last on August 17, 2017, with the aim to adjourn for just a week, but couldn’t meet again until the Sallah holiday break.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, on his own part expressed hope that the meeting would be a short one and a departure from the protracted negotiations the labour minister had with the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) that lasted for almost 18 hours.
”It is my hope that this meeting is going to be a short one. I said this because most of the issues raised have been dealt with. The two most important outstanding issues, Allowances, and revitalisation of university system will be dealt with at this meeting,” Adamu said.
On his part, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said having conveyed its position in a letter to the FG team, ASUU came to the meeting with an open mind, believing that government would play its own part.
“Sir, we thank you for the observation of the letters that have been exchanged. We have conveyed the position of our members, we also waiting for the response to our letter.
“Once we are able to resolve the contending issues we will go back to brief our members and take the final decision on when to call off the strike,” he added.