FG, ASUU Reschedule Meeting For Dec 14

The hope for university students to return to classes has again been dashed, as the meeting between the Federal Government and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), scheduled to hold yesterday, Wednesday, December 9, was been postponed.

According to the Director, Press and Public Relations, of the Labour ministry, Charles Akpan, the meeting which was expected to receive a possible resumption date from ASUU, has been postponed to Monday, December 14.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, had raised the hope of students when he assured that ASUU would suspend its action after Federal Government increased its offer for Earned allowance and university revitalisation fund to N70 Billion.

Ngige, had revealed that ASUU agreed at their last meeting with the government team on November 27 to call off their nine-month-old strike before December 9.

“The truth of the matter is that a ‘gentleman agreement’ was reached at the last meeting in which ASUU agreed to call off the strike before December 9, 2020, and the minister, in turn, agreed that once the strike is called off, he would get a presidential waiver for ASUU to be paid the remainder of their salaries on or before December 9,” Ngige stated.

Meanwhile, the ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, has said that the Union is still consulting with its members across the country on the latest government’s offer and is yet to come up with any agreement as to when the strike action would be called off.

Recall that the ASUU President, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi had earlier accused the federal government of failing to deliver on offers made to the union.

Ogunyemi blamed the FG for the union’s failure to call off the strike, noting that the lecturers would not return to classes until their salary arrears were paid.