President Goodluck Jonathan on
Monday led a negotiation meeting with the
leadership of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) to end the protracted
strike embarked upon by the union since July
1. The13-hour meeting started at about 2.30 p.m.
on Monday at the Presidential Villa and ended
at 3.30 a.m. on Tuesday. The meeting had in attendance the leadership
of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the
Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by their
respective Chairmen Abduwaheed Omar and
Bobbo Kaigama. The ASUU team was led by the union’s
President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, three former
presidents of the union, professors Dipo
Fashina, Abdullahi Sule-Kano and Festus Iyayi
as well as professors Biodun Osiyemi, Victor
Osodeke, Suleiman Abdullahi and Dr. Victor Igbum. On the government negotiation team were,
Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of
Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu; Minister of
Finance and Coordinating Minister of the
Economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister
of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike. Also on the government side were the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, the Chief of
Staff to the President, Mr Mike Oghiadome,
and the Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie. Emerging from the meeting, Fagge told State
House correspondents that the president had
given the delegation a message to its members
which would enable the union to call off the
strike.
President Goodluck Jonathan (left); ASUU Vice
President, Mr. Biodun Ogunyemi Onabanjo (2nd
right); Vice President Namadi Sambo (2nd left)
and ASUU President, Nasir Faggae (right) during
the meeting.
“We have had a lengthy meeting with Mr
President, rubbing minds on the ways to
address the problems of university education
in this country. “We now have a message from Mr President
that we are going to take to our members and
we are expecting that our members will
respond appropriately to the message of Mr
President,” he said Asked whether union would call off the strike
and return to work based on the message from
the meeting, Fagge said “that is up to our
members.” Wogu, who spoke for the government, said that
the meeting ended positively and the message
of the President to ASUU “is full of hope and
high expectations. “The message is full of hope and expectations
and our prayer is that they come back with
positive response. “They might not even come back to meet us;
they might even take decisions there that will
meet your expectations.” Wogu noted that the offer made by the
president was in line with the 2009 agreement
reached with the union. “The offer is within the issues that led to the
strike; the issues contained in the 2009
agreement and we did not go beyond the
agreement,” he said. He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with
ASUU and gave an assurance that the outcome
of the meeting would be positive. The president appeared to be in high spirits
when he entered the venue of the meeting. While shaking hands with the ASUU president,
he exclaimed: “My president! All the problems
will be over today; our children must go back to
school.” The president proceeded to shake hands with
everyone in attendance at the meeting. Also, while shaking hands with Omar and
Kaigama, Jonathan said: “My presidents, with
you here, I am assured everything will go on
well, it is signed and sealed.” The meeting went into a 30-minute break at
6.20 p.m. During the period, the ASUU delegation went
out of the venue of the meeting to the road
where the bus that conveyed them was packed
and held consultations inside the bus for about
25 minutes. Prior to the arrival of the ASUU and labour team
for the meeting, the president held a closed-
door consultation with members of his team. The discussion, which lasted for about 40
minutes, was attended by the Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN). It will be recalled that ASUU embarked on
strike on July 1 over the government failure to
implement an agreement reached with the
union in 2009 for improved funding for
infrastructure development in the universities
and payment of lecturers’ Earned Allowances. Government had set up two committees to
address the issues to resolve the crisis but the
inability of the committees to reach
agreements with ASUU led to the vice-
president taking over the negotiation. On Sept. 19, the vice-president held a special
negotiation meeting with the leadership of
ASUU and offered an improved government
position on the matter but the union rejected
the offer. Many Nigerians have appealed to ASUU to call
off the strike. (NAN)
Monday led a negotiation meeting with the
leadership of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) to end the protracted
strike embarked upon by the union since July
1. The13-hour meeting started at about 2.30 p.m.
on Monday at the Presidential Villa and ended
at 3.30 a.m. on Tuesday. The meeting had in attendance the leadership
of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the
Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by their
respective Chairmen Abduwaheed Omar and
Bobbo Kaigama. The ASUU team was led by the union’s
President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, three former
presidents of the union, professors Dipo
Fashina, Abdullahi Sule-Kano and Festus Iyayi
as well as professors Biodun Osiyemi, Victor
Osodeke, Suleiman Abdullahi and Dr. Victor Igbum. On the government negotiation team were,
Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of
Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu; Minister of
Finance and Coordinating Minister of the
Economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister
of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike. Also on the government side were the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, the Chief of
Staff to the President, Mr Mike Oghiadome,
and the Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie. Emerging from the meeting, Fagge told State
House correspondents that the president had
given the delegation a message to its members
which would enable the union to call off the
strike.
President Goodluck Jonathan (left); ASUU Vice
President, Mr. Biodun Ogunyemi Onabanjo (2nd
right); Vice President Namadi Sambo (2nd left)
and ASUU President, Nasir Faggae (right) during
the meeting.
“We have had a lengthy meeting with Mr
President, rubbing minds on the ways to
address the problems of university education
in this country. “We now have a message from Mr President
that we are going to take to our members and
we are expecting that our members will
respond appropriately to the message of Mr
President,” he said Asked whether union would call off the strike
and return to work based on the message from
the meeting, Fagge said “that is up to our
members.” Wogu, who spoke for the government, said that
the meeting ended positively and the message
of the President to ASUU “is full of hope and
high expectations. “The message is full of hope and expectations
and our prayer is that they come back with
positive response. “They might not even come back to meet us;
they might even take decisions there that will
meet your expectations.” Wogu noted that the offer made by the
president was in line with the 2009 agreement
reached with the union. “The offer is within the issues that led to the
strike; the issues contained in the 2009
agreement and we did not go beyond the
agreement,” he said. He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with
ASUU and gave an assurance that the outcome
of the meeting would be positive. The president appeared to be in high spirits
when he entered the venue of the meeting. While shaking hands with the ASUU president,
he exclaimed: “My president! All the problems
will be over today; our children must go back to
school.” The president proceeded to shake hands with
everyone in attendance at the meeting. Also, while shaking hands with Omar and
Kaigama, Jonathan said: “My presidents, with
you here, I am assured everything will go on
well, it is signed and sealed.” The meeting went into a 30-minute break at
6.20 p.m. During the period, the ASUU delegation went
out of the venue of the meeting to the road
where the bus that conveyed them was packed
and held consultations inside the bus for about
25 minutes. Prior to the arrival of the ASUU and labour team
for the meeting, the president held a closed-
door consultation with members of his team. The discussion, which lasted for about 40
minutes, was attended by the Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN). It will be recalled that ASUU embarked on
strike on July 1 over the government failure to
implement an agreement reached with the
union in 2009 for improved funding for
infrastructure development in the universities
and payment of lecturers’ Earned Allowances. Government had set up two committees to
address the issues to resolve the crisis but the
inability of the committees to reach
agreements with ASUU led to the vice-
president taking over the negotiation. On Sept. 19, the vice-president held a special
negotiation meeting with the leadership of
ASUU and offered an improved government
position on the matter but the union rejected
the offer. Many Nigerians have appealed to ASUU to call
off the strike. (NAN)
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