FG, ASUU to meet on Thursday over imminent strike
By John Okezie
Officials of the Federal Government led by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has scheduled a meeting with officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Thursday to possibly resolve the labour issues raised by the union a few days ago.
Information from the Federal Ministry of Education indicated the Minister of Education will chair the meeting scheduled to hold at the Minister’s conference room, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, at about 11:30 am, on Thursday.
It was noted that the engagement reflects the Ministry’s commitment to constructive dialogue and collaboration in addressing key issues in Nigeria’s university system.
Meanwhile, ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, said the union will not be part of the meeting because the union was not invited to be part of the meeting.
His words: “It’s not our meeting. It’s possible that the meeting is between the Ministry officials and Yayale Ahmed renegotiation committee. So, at the union level, we are not aware of the meeting.”
ASUU began peaceful protests across the campuses nationwide this week to register their discontent with the “insensitivity” of the government to the plight of the university lecturer.
As requested by ASUU at its meeting in Jos, its members were mobilized en mass to participate in the rally across the campuses. ASUU said the rally will be the first shot at government, and it will signal many other things to come and reassure members that it is committed to addressing the challenges ahead.
For the benefit of the doubt, ASUU said the issues include the re-negotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement; sustainable funding of our universities; revitalization of universities; victimization of colleges in LASU, KSU (now Prince Abubakar Audu University) and FUTO.
The union asked Nigerians to note that it has tried several ways and strategies of resolving the conflict in the education sector, and should also note that it has written several letters to the federal government drawing its attention to the need to resolve the crisis amicably.
“Sadly, the federal government has always turned a deaf ear to all our pleas. As always, it is the federal government that consistently pushed our union to embark on a strike action, and it is clear that ASUU may have no other option than to embark on an action to press the government to listen to our demands and do the needful”, it said.
