The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has turned down a conditional offer from a federal government delegation led by Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and the Minister for Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige to call off the strike.
Current situation
The federal government and leadership of ASUU resumed negotiations after the latter announced an extension of its current strike action by 12 weeks.
- The resumed negotiation of both parties was also attended by Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, and the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Dr. Supo Ayokunle in a bid to convince the lecturers to return to the classrooms.
State of play
- The Nigerian public faces a confused front as to the exact state of affairs between the federal government and the academic union.
- On one hand, the Minister for Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, claims that the negotiations were fruitful and that in a few days to come the “different unions will have something to tell their members, so that they can call off the strike.” He added that there are now timelines on the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement in terms of condition of service and wage review.
- On the other hand, ASUU says that there was no new development from the meeting with the federal government except a plea to end the strike action for a period.
In case you missed it
- ASUU extended the current strike action by 12 weeks after the warning strike ended from February 14th till May 9th.
- ASUU demands include the funding of the revitalization of public universities, the Earned Academic Allowances, the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.