The Federal Government has again assured that the prolonged
strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities would soon come to an end.
The assurances followed the payment of part of the arrears
of salaries to the university lecturers in line with the agreement reached with
the union.
Some lecturers confirmed that they had been paid two months’
salary arrears.
Speaking at the meeting with ASUU on Tuesday, the Minister
of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, assured that the strike would be
called off before January 15.
Referring to an ultimatum issued by some students, the
minister said the industrial action would be resolved before January 15,
noting, however, that he had not received a letter from the students
threatening to embark on protests if the strike was not called off.
Ngige said, “The government would disappoint all those
wishing for the protests as all the matters in dispute must have been resolved
by January 15.
“Those who want to use the #EndASUU protest to destroy
public and private property or lecturers’ homes will be disappointed.
“I am optimistic that the meeting will produce the final
result that will make everybody happy,” Ngige said.
Expressing optimism about the meeting, the minister informed
ASUU that he had received confirmation from the FG that most of the grey areas
had been dealt with.
“We are hopeful that ASUU will then take the report of what
we achieved today to their members. We allow social dialogue in line with ILO
conventions for all employers and employee, to guide this meeting,” he stated.
The ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, said they
sympathised with their students who are also their children, adding that “no
amount of sacrifice would be too much to get the matter resolved as long as the
government is consistent with its commitments”.
Ogunyemi said they came for the meeting with all sense of
responsibility to resolve the crisis in the interest of the students and their
members, who, he said had been starving.
He, however, reiterated that only the National Executive
Committee of ASUU could announce the suspension of the strike.
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