Strike: FG, ASUU Resume Talks Today

The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities will meet today over the ongoing strike of members of the union.

The strike has raised a lot of negative reactions towards the government as other academic associations also embarked on strike over the government’s inability to reach an agreement with them.

Recall that the three months timelines given to the Prof Nimi Briggs committee set up by the government to renegotiate the 2009 agreement elapsed on June 7, 2022.

But investigations revealed that the committee would meet Academic Staff Union of Universities on Monday (today) while the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and allied institutions would have their meeting on Friday.

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“We are meeting the FG committee in Abuja on Monday,” a source in ASUU said. The union’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview, also said that meetings would resume this week.

“We are resuming the meeting this week and we have an invitation this week. The renegotiation meeting will only end if we have called off the strike.

“Since the strike is still on, the meeting cannot end. We do not have any problem with the committee. When we do, we will communicate with the committee,” he said.

Similarly, the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions’ National President, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, revealed that SSANU’s meeting would be on Friday.

“Yes, we are meeting with the FG on Friday,” he said.

SSANU’s strike started with a warning strike of two weeks which commenced on the midnight of March 27, 2021, while the extension of another two weeks commenced on April 10, 2022 and it is still ongoing.

ASUU commenced its ongoing strike on February 14, 2022, after the Federal Government failed to meet some of its demands including, the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.