The Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government are to resume talks today on how to resolve the impasse over the two months old strike embarked upon by lecturers.
National President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, confirmed the development during a press interview in Abuja.
Prof. Ogunyemi said the union was not optimistic about the prospects of an early resolution of the industrial dispute as members are tired of government’s failed promises.
He recalled that last year, government promised to release the funds but did not until November when the strike began stating that their members are yearning for implementation or disbursement of funds. Prof. Ogunyemi explained that in order to forestall a situation where ASUU and the government would restart negotiations on arrears of earned academic allowances, both sides had agreed that it would be mainstreamed into the 2019 budget.
It would be re called that members of ASUU went on strike on November fourth, 2018 to demand for improved funding of universities and implementation of previous agreements with the government.
The union is also seeking the implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreements, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU; 2012 and 2013) and Memorandum of Action (MoA, 2017), among others.
The union is also asking the Federal Government to expedite action on the release of funds to revitalise public universities in accordance with the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2012, 2013 and the MoA of 2017 among others.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had told the leadership of ASUU that the FG would accept many of their demands but flexibility is needed to implement the rest.
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