FG and ASUU Reaches Agreement

The striking university lecturers, ASUU, have agreed to consider the federal government’s offer and suspend their strike.

The agreement comes after 12 hours, 30 minutes of a closed door meeting between ASUU and a government delegation in Abuja.

The leadership of ASUU, however, said though it accepted the proposal presented by the government, it will take the proposal to its members and get back to the government in a week.

ASUU National President, Biodun Ogunyemi

Biodun Ogunyemi, the national president of ASUU, told journalists after the meeting that the union will come back after one week to take its final decisions.

“Now we have some concrete proposal that we will take back to our members for consideration,” he said.

Also, labour minister, Ngige, said the meeting would “break down the areas of mistrust” between the government and the union.

Labour Minister, Chris Ngige

He said, “We last met on August 17 and we agreed you would get back to your members and you would give us your proposal. Between then and now, a lot of things have happened and some contacts and meetings were held between you and the Minister of Education.

“Some appreciable and tangible results were achieved. We are convening this meeting with this in mind; to smooth the rough edges and enable you to call off this strike, which will be one month in a matter of days. This will not augur well for the academic calendar of universities.

“We want to address and break down the areas of mistrust between us.”

On his part, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said ASUU’s demands have been addressed and the union will get back to the government in a week after consulting with its principals.

The meeting which started about 1:38pm on Thursday lasted till 2:15 a.m. on Friday.

Details later….

PT.