There have emerged indications that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may call of its ongoing strike within next two weeks.This information appeared after a Thursday closed-door meeting with the ASUU members and Nigerian Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, in Abuja.
The parties did not disclose the details of the meeting, which lasted for almost two hours.
However, ASUU National President, Dr. Nasir Faggae, told State House Correspondents that the union would make its position known after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting scheduled for Saturday, September 21.In turn, the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wikehad assured Nigerians that students would soon return to school as the FG stands ready to shift ground.
An insider source who wanted to say anonymous, disclosed that going by the new offers made by the FG, the strike might end within the next two weeks because the FG had agreed to release fund to revitalize the university system.
“The meeting went well, the vice-president made some new offers that were different from what was on ground before. For instance, the Federal Government had agreed to start the injection of revitalisation fund into the university system starting with N100bn this year and N150bn in 2014 and this will continue until the university system is solid enough to stand,” the source said.
It will be reminded that ASUU has been on an indefinite strike since June 30. The lecturers protest against the FG’s failure to honour a 2009 agreement signed between it and ASUU in 2009 pertaining to issues of university funding and improvement of infrastructure in the sector.
HISTORY OF THE STRIKE
ASUU has been on strike since June 30.
The Vice President Namadi Sambo has, in a bid to end the continuous gridlock in the dialogue between the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU and federal government, taken over the negotiation process. The government’s negotiation team was formerly headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim.
For the first time since the commencement of the over 10-week-old strike action by the union, the Vice President met with the leadership of the union at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.
The meeting was held behind closed doors.
Nigerian Universities have been shut down since June 30 as a result of federal government’s failure to honour an agreement signed between it and ASUU in 2009 bothering on issues of university funding and improvement of infrastructure in the sector.
Speaking to journalists at the Presidential Villa after the closed door meeting, the ASUU President, Nasir Fagge, said that he was taking back a “message given to him at the meeting for his members” and that Nigerians would have to wait for the response of his members on the way forward.
“We have had a meeting with the Vice President and he has given us a message to our members, and we said that as the messengers that we are, we are going to deliver the message faithfully to our members and then they will take the decision.”
According to him, “I know Nigerians are expecting a solution to the strike, we also want a solution, but I have been given a message to our members. The message is not for Nigerians, it is for our members”.
“If I deliver the message, our principal will decide and we will get back to the ministry of education within this week,” he added, saying the union would get back to the education minister on its stance on the government’s latest offer.
The federal government had offered N100 billion and N30 billion for infrastructure development in various universities and payment of verified earned allowances of lecturers respectively. It is not clear if the government made an improved offer for the lecturers whose only demand is that government implements fully the 2009 agreement.
The Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who was also at the meeting, explained that the meeting had been convened to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
“One is quit hopeful that ASUU is committed, they have the passion and that there is the need for us to move the education sector forward.
“ASUU coming to discuss means that they are committed on their own part and that the federal government is also committed. We have gone very far, we believe that in no distance time, you will have a very good result,” he said.
Also on the ASUU delegation were two former Presidents of ASUU, Dipo Fasina and Abdullahi Sule-Kano.
Other members of the government’s delegation included the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Julius Okojie; as well as the Vice Chancellors of Bayero University Kano (BUK), University of Ibadan (UI) and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, Abdulrasheed Abubakar, Isaac Adewole, and Muhammed Muhammed respectively.
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