Again, ASUU, FG yet to agree as meeting postponed to next week

The lecturers strike is in ita sixth week.

Tuesday’s meeting between striking university lecturers and the federal government delegation did not resolve any of the contending issues, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

At the penultimate meeting last week, the government’s delegation had set up a sub-committee headed by the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, to review the areas of controversy in the 2009 agreement between the lecturers and the government.

While the lecturers, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, insist on the full implementation of the 2009 agreement, the government wants a renegotiation of some parts of the agreement.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday’s meeting, the President of ASUU, Nasir Fagge, said the meeting was postponed because the sub-committee did not finish their task and so there was “nothing much to discuss.”

He confirmed that the meeting had been adjourned to Tuesday next week and explained that ASUU was not part of the sub-committee.

Mr. Suswam had said last week that the ASUU strike could be called off in two weeks when his committee, which is same as that set up the federal government on the NEEDS assessment of universities, completes its task.

The committee has already recommended an immediate ingestion of about N1 billion on capital and educational projects in six chosen universities across the six geo-political zones, a project expected to launched by President Goodluck Jonathan soon.

Mr. Suswam and the federal government have repeatedly appealed to the lecturers, whose strike entered its sixth week, to call off the strike.

However, the ASUU president, while reacting to the appeals of students and the government to call off the strike while negotiations continue, said, “If the government does what is right, the strike will be called off tomorrow; So it is in the hands of the government.”