Strike: Fed Govt, ASUU to resume talks Sept 6

The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have agreed to resume talks  on September 6 to address some of the grey areas in the demands by the university teachers.

Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman said this after a closed door meeting with the leadership of ASUU led by its President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke.

ASUU had issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to promptly address the outstanding issues that have encumbered the development of  universities.

Prof Osodeke gave the ultimatum at a news conference at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State.

But at the end of yesterday’s meeting with the university teachers, the minister expressed optimism that universities would not be shut down.

Prof Mamman told reporters that sub-committees have been set up to look into the issues and report progress by next week.

He said: “Hopefully, we have a very good window for the resolution of the issues. So, the task before us now is to work on those modalities and the processes and procedures we all agreed to study the problems.

“So we are coming back on September 6 to report back on the tasks we have set out to work towards resolution of the issues. It has been a very friendly meeting, with a very good understanding of where we are and what we want to achieve for the university sector.

Prof Osodeke  expressed hope that the issues would be resolved before the next meeting.

On whether the union would press ahead with strike if no agreement was reached by September 6, the ASUU president  said this would be decided by members.

“As a union, our leadership doesn’t decide for our members. Whatever we get by September 6 will be communicated to our members and they will decide on what to do next.

Some of the issues, according to ASUU, include: Conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement based on late Nimi Briggs Committee’s draft Agreement of 2021; Release of withheld three-and-half months salaries on account of the 2022 strike ; Release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, part-time and adjunct appointments owing to the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS); Release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions; Funding for revitalisation of public universities (partly captured in 2023 Federal Government’s Budget) and the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) (partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s Budget).

Others are: proliferation of universities by Federal and state Governments; Implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities; and University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) in place of IPPIS.