Tobias Sylvester
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will continue its ongoing strike after a meeting with the Federal Government ended in a deadlock on Tuesday.
ASUU Strike Continues
KanyiDaily recalls that ASUU had embarked on a warning strike since February 14, over the failure of the federal government to meet its demands.
Amid the strike, the government and the union have held a series of meetings, but no agreement has been reached by both sides on ending the strike.
On Tuesday, August 16, ASUU president, Emmanuel Osodeke disclosed that the government had invited the union for a meeting yestder on the issue of renegotiation to call off the strike action.
However, it was gathered that the ASUU and the government met on Tuesday but their conversation on ending the ongoing strike ended without an agreement.
Sources familiar with the matter said that the government’s team met with the representatives of ASUU at the headquarters of the National Universities Commission.
“The meet with the FG’s team was headed by Professor Nimi Briggs and it started by 12:00pm and ended by 3:00pm. There was no new offer on the table, they simply begged us to call off the strike”., the top ASUU official told The PUNCH.
A top ministry official also said, “The lecturers left angrily, though we cannot really ascertain what was discussed with them as you can see, we were not invited, but the proposal presented was rejected.”
Also confirming the development, a member of the ASUU National Executive Committee who asked not to be quoted explained that the government was “unserious” with the negotiations.
“They are not serious. I can’t go over the details with you because the president is responsible for disseminating the information. The proposal presented was unreasonable. There is no hope in sight,” the source said.
KanyiDaily recalls that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar said the federal government’s inability to resolve the ASUU strike would never happen under his administration.
