The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday held a meeting to avert an industrial action by the union.
The parley, which started at about 4:30 p.m. at the Minister of Education’s office in Abuja, ended around 6:40 p.m.
The ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, told journalists that the meeting was necessary as the present administration had spent one year in office without addressing issues affecting the university system.
Both sides expressed optimism that with the commencement of negotiations, all outstanding issues would be amicably resolved.
The union had threatened to embark on strike over various issues, but speaking with our correspondent after the meeting with the education minister, Tahir Mamman, Osodeke said that the negotiation process had begun and hoped the minister would follow up on what had been agreed on.
Osodeke explained that both parties were asked to set up committees to look into the 10 demands ASUU listed in a letter it wrote to the Federal Government on Monday.
He revealed that they would meet the government in two weeks for another review.
He said, “We have not decided on anything yet but we only created committees to look into our demands. There are some things they also asked us to do. We will be meeting in the next two weeks again.
“We had discussions on all the issues and we have given assignments to some people to look at and we have agreed on the way forward.
“So, we will go back and give the details to our members. What is important is that we have started the process and our prayer is that we resolve it for the interest of our young men and the interest of the nation.’’
Minister promises consultations
Speaking on the parley, the education minister said that consultations would commence immediately to overcome the challenges in the university.
“We’ve had a very good meeting and a very productive one. We’ve discussed progress on how to ensure that the system works well and lots of the issues we talked about are issues we all inherited and ongoing. So, we discussed them all without exception and we have a consensus on the way forward.
“A lot of consultations will continue on some information we don’t have which are beyond the scope of the ministry and which will require us to connect with our colleagues in other ministries,’’ he stated.
Addressing journalists before the meeting, Osodeke said, “The government has spent one year in office and we have not been called for any formal meeting. Today, we are having the first formal meeting.
“There is a process we have started and we are going to set deadlines, we are going to meet to look at what has been done on those issues; We hope the process will continue.”
The union across various branches issued a three-week ultimatum to the Federal Government over some outstanding demands.
ASUU in a letter, dated June 20, 2024, said the Nigerian academics were compelled to embark on nationwide strike action on February 14, 2022, when all entreaties to the government to resolve the issues in contention fell on deaf ears.
This action lasted till October of the same year.
“Specifically, the government’s refusal to implement the Memorandum of Action of December 2020 provoked the 2022 strike action across the Nigerian public universities. Sadly, to date, several issues in the 2020 MOA remain unresolved,” the union regretted.
Pending demands
The letter signed by Osodeke indicated that the 10 issues, and emerging ones, include the conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement based on Nimi Briggs Committee’s draft Agreement of 2021; release of withheld three-and-half months salaries on account of the 2022 strike action and the release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments owing to the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
Others are the release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions and funding for the revitalisation of public universities partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s budget.
Their demands also include Earned Academic Allowances (partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s budget); proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments; implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities; Illegal dissolution of Governing Councils; and University Transparency and Accountability Solution in place of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
Members of ASUU had on Tuesday, staged protests nationwide and warned of impending strike if the government refused to act on agreements signed with the union.
The members nationwide marched through their campuses, bearing placards with various inscriptions and asked the Federal Government to return to the negotiating table with the union.
At the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, the lecturers, who carried placards with inscriptions such as, “IPPIS is a scam,” “pay all our outstanding promotion arrears,” “FG give our children proper education,” among others, were led by the ASUU Akure Zone Coordinator, Dr Adeola Egbetokun and the OAU branch chairman, Prof. Anthony Odiwe.
The union warned of impending industrial unrest on campuses unless the Federal Government returned to the negotiation table.
Addressing journalists during the protest, Odiwe said the release of four months out of pending months owed the lecturers by the Federal Government was like a Greek gift, as the third-party deductions taken from their salaries were not remitted to the appropriate quarters.
He said even though the union expressed a desire for negotiation, the Federal Government refused to initiate talks with ASUU over pending unmet agreements between the parties.
