August 17, (THEWILL) – Nigerian students in Federal government-owned universities will remain out of school, as the meeting between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the negotiation team of the Federal Government, has again failed to reach a conclusive agreement to end the strike
Members of ASUU had on Tuesday, met with the Federal Government team, with the aim of resolving the issues that led to the ongoing strike
Stakeholders at the meeting, which involved the professor Nimi Briggs-led committee and ASUU officials, failed to reach any meaningful resolution after the meeting which lasted several hours at the University of Abuja campus.
A source privy to the talks, noted that the Nimi Briggs committee failed to come with any commitment to resolve the strike, rather was appealing to the union to suspend the strike, with promises that their concerns will be included in the 2023 budget.
THEWILL, however, gathered that some of the demands which ASUU insists must be met, may be tabled for extensive deliberations at Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting usually presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
When contacted, ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, did not immediately reply to inquiries, but spokesperson of the ministry of education, Ben Goong, said the minister would brief the press on Thursday.
ASUU had on Monday, February 14, 2022 commenced a strike, to protest the lack of funding for public universities, disagreement over salaries payment platforms, and unpaid earned allowances, as contained in the agreement with the federal government in 2009.
Efforts to renegotiate this agreement, and end incessant strike in public universities, started in 2017, when the federal government inaugurated a committee headed by professor babalakin, which was later replaced by professor manzali in 2020, but the exercise was halted by the outbreak of covid-19.
Professor Nimi Briggs took over the renegotiation in may 2021, and has since then not been able to reach any tangible agreement with the universities’ unions, a development that has grounded government-owned universities since february.
ASUU recently announced an extension of the ongoing strike by another four weeks, further dimming hopes of students to return to classrooms.
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