ASUU Strike: We’ve Done All We Can, Says FG

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… MAY REVERSE NO WORK, NO PAY DECISION

The Federal Government says it has done all it can to end the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who stated this on Tuesday while meeting with Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities at the National Universities Commission (NUC) Abuja, said all previous efforts by the government to return the lecturers to class have proved abortive.

He said he and many government officials had engaged the union on several occasions to end the seven-month-old strike.

“We have done the best that we can in the circumstance. After inter-ministerial consultations and rounds of hard negotiations with all government agencies, we interacted with the Unions. I gave it all it required to resolve the current challenges.

“I met the Unions anywhere and everywhere possible with facts, with figures, and with absolute sincerity.

“For example, I directly met with ASUU leadership in my house, in my office and at the ASUU Secretariat on several different occasions, in addition to other formal engagements going on,” he said.

The Minister added that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed them not to accept any demand that is not feasible.

ASUU had, on February 14, 2022, shut down public universities, demanding full implementation of previous agreements the union and the FG had entered into.

 However, there are indications that the Federal Government may reverse its decision not to pay the striking university lecturers, who have been at home for the past seven months.
The government may also review some of its hard decisions that have been opposed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, causing the latter to continue its strike despite pleas by students, parents and concerned Nigerians.
At the end of the meeting on Tuesday, the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Bem Goong, who briefed newsmen on the decisions reached during the meeting, said the 14-man committee set up at the meeting will also look into other contending areas of the renegotiation with ASUU.
Goong, however, said the issue of University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS, as the payment platform for university lecturers, was not discussed at the meeting, adding that it was also not part of the issues the 14-member committee would tackle.

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