ASUU considers calling off strike after 13-hour meeting with Jonathan

Abuja – President Goodluck Jonathan on
Monday led a negotiation meeting with the
leadership of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) to end the protracted
strike embarked upon by the union since July
1.
The13-hour meeting started at about 2.30
p.m. on Monday at the Presidential Villa and
ended at 3.30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The meeting had in attendance the
leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress
(NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC)
led by their respective Chairmen
Abduwaheed Omar and Bobbo Kaigama.
The ASUU team was led by the union’s
President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, three former
presidents of the union, professors Dipo
Fashina, Abdullahi Sule-Kano and Festus
Iyayi as well as professors Biodun Osiyemi,
Victor Osodeke, Suleiman Abdullahi and Dr.
Victor Igbum.
On the government negotiation team were,
Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of
Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu; Minister of
Finance and Coordinating Minister of the
Economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the
Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom
Wike.
Also on the government side were the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, the Chief of
Staff to the President, Mr Mike Oghiadome,
and the Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie.
Emerging from the meeting, Fagge told State
House correspondents that the president had
given the delegation a message to its
members which would enable the union to
call off the strike.
“We have had a lengthy meeting with Mr
President, rubbing minds on the ways to
address the problems of university education
in this country.
“We now have a message from Mr President
that we are going to take to our members
and we are expecting that our members will
respond appropriately to the message of Mr
President,” he said
Asked whether union would call off the
strike and return to work based on the
message from the meeting, Fagge said “that is
up to our members.”
Wogu, who spoke for the government, said
that the meeting ended positively and the
message of the President to ASUU “is full of
hope and high expectations.
“The message is full of hope and expectations
and our prayer is that they come back with
positive response.
“They might not even come back to meet us;
they might even take decisions there that will
meet your expectations.”
Wogu noted that the offer made by the
president was in line with the 2009
agreement reached with the union.
“The offer is within the issues that led to the
strike; the issues contained in the 2009
agreement and we did not go beyond the
agreement,” he said.
He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with
ASUU and gave an assurance that the
outcome of the meeting would be positive.
The president appeared to be in high spirits
when he entered the venue of the meeting.
While shaking hands with the ASUU
president, he exclaimed: “My president! All
the problems will be over today; our children
must go back to school.”
The president proceeded to shake hands with
everyone in attendance at the meeting.
Also, while shaking hands with Omar and
Kaigama, Jonathan said: “My presidents,
with you here, I am assured everything will
go on well, it is signed and sealed.”
The meeting went into a 30-minute break at
6.20 p.m.
During the period, the ASUU delegation went
out of the venue of the meeting to the road
where the bus that conveyed them was
packed and held consultations inside the bus
for about 25 minutes.
Prior to the arrival of the ASUU and labour
team for the meeting, the president held a
closed-door consultation with members of
his team.
The discussion, which lasted for about 40
minutes, was attended by the Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN).
It will be recalled that ASUU embarked on
strike on July 1 over the government failure
to implement an agreement reached with the
union in 2009 for improved funding for
infrastructure development in the
universities and payment of lecturers’
Earned Allowances.
Government had set up two committees to
address the issues to resolve the crisis but the
inability of the committees to reach
agreements with ASUU led to the vice-
president taking over the negotiation.
On Sept. 19, the vice-president held a special
negotiation meeting with the leadership of
ASUU and offered an improved government
position on the matter but the union rejected
the offer.
Many Nigerians have appealed to ASUU to
call off the strike. (NAN)