Strike: Meeting was fair; we’re waiting to hear from FG

The striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has stated that it is awaiting the Federal Government’s response to its demands.

The Federal Government’s renegotiation committee, led by Prof. Nimi Briggs, met with ASUU leadership on Monday to continue renegotiating the FGN-ASUU 2009 agreements with the four university unions, all of which are currently on strike.

Emmanuel Osodeke, President of ASUU, told newsmen that the meeting was fair and that they expected the government to respond to the issues discussed with the committee.

When asked if ASUU would call off the strike soon because it had a fair deliberation with the Briggs committee, Osodeke responded, “I don’t know if we are calling off the strike soon.” We are awaiting the government’s final response.

“It is a committee comprised of various government agencies.” They must return to their principal and review what we agreed upon before reporting back to us. We will provide you with full details once they respond to us.”

He revealed that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is still testing the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), and that ASUU has met with the Federal Government’s committee three times.

Osodeke also stated that the committee had issued no new invitations.

“They will call us when they are ready for another meeting,” he said. We’ve had three meetings with them so far.”

On February 14, 2022, ASUU began its ongoing strike after the Federal Government failed to meet some of its demands, including the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.