A follow-up meeting between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is set for September 6 to further negotiate and resolve issues concerning lecturers’ welfare.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday after a meeting between the two parties, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, said this would ensure that grey areas are resolved to avert the planned industrial action.
The Guardian reports that the meeting lasted for over two hours behind closed doors.
The minister expressed optimism that universities would not be shut down, adding 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 the resolution of the issues. It’s been a very friendly meeting, a very good understanding of where we are and what we want to achieve for the university sector.”
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed hope that the issues would be resolved before the next meeting. On whether the Union would press ahead with a strike if no resolution is reached by September 6, Prof. Osodeke said this would be decided by members.
“As a Union, we the leadership don’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.”
Recall that last week, ASUU had issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to promptly address the outstanding issues that have encumbered the development of Nigerian universities. ASUU President, Prof. Osodeke, handed down the ultimatum during a press conference at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State.
He said that the notice for an impending showdown with the government has become necessary following a comprehensive review of the outcomes of the union’s previous engagements with the government.
Among the grievances listed by ASUU are the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, withheld salaries, promotion arrears, and third-party deductions of members; funding for the revitalization of public universities and payment of earned academic allowances.
Other complaints include allegations of illegal recruitment, proliferation of public universities/abuse of universities’ rules and processes, Treasury Single Account; use of new curriculum for universities; diversion of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention funds to the student loan scheme; and implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities.
Another issue is that eight months after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) excluded universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and other tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) payment platform, it is yet to be implemented.(Guardian)
