JUST IN: ASUU Speaks On Calling Off Nationwide Strike After Meeting With FG

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has disclosed that it is awaiting the final response of the federal government on its demands to make its decision on suspending the nationwide strike.

Recall that the federal government’s renegotiation committee headed by Prof. Nimi Briggs met with ASUU leadership on Monday in continuation of the renegotiation of the FGN-ASUU 2009 agreements with the four university unions, which are all currently on strike, DAILY GIST reports.

Speaking on the development, The President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke said the meeting was fair, stating that they were expecting the government to respond to the issues they discussed with the committee.

When asked if ASUU would call the strike off soon since it had a fair deliberation with Briggs committee, Osodeke said, ‘‘I don’t know if we are calling off the strike soon. We are waiting for the final response from the government.

”It is a committee of different government agencies. They need to go back to their principal and look at what we agreed on and then get back to us. When they respond to us, we will give you full details.”

He revealed that University Transparency and Accountability Solution is still undergoing test by National Information Technology Development Agency, adding that ASUU has had three meetings with the Federal Government’s committee.

Osodeke also noted that there was no new invitation from the committee.

He said, “They will call us when they are ready for another meeting, but none for now. We have had about three meetings with them.’’

DAILY GIST reported that the union commenced a warning strike on February 14 over failure of the federal government to meet its demands and implement some agreements the two parties entered into previously.

ASUU’s demands include the funding of the revitalisation of public universities, the Earned Academic Allowances, the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.