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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Call off d strike dats d breakin news I wana hear

dey shld jst call it off biko

Long story

ASUU to call off the strike soon, and Wike to take the glory.