The meeting convened by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education to persuade the striking non-teaching staff of universities to suspend the ongoing strike over their exclusion in the payment of the four months withheld salaries approved by President Bola Tinubu has ended in deadlock.
The deadlocked meeting, held on Wednesday at the Conference Hall of the Education Ministry, started at about 1pm.
The unions, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and National Association of Academic Technologists, told the government that what they needed was payment of the withheld salaries and not meetings.
The three unions noted that the Federal Government has been making promises that their concerns were receiving attention from the high quarters when nothing concrete was being done to pay them the way their sister union members in the Academic Staff Union of Universities were paid.
The meeting was presided over by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, joined by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu; Permanent Secretary and Directors in the ministry.
On the side of the unions were the President of SSANU, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim; General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi; and President of NAAT, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma.
