In order to resolve outstanding issues and prevent the union from going on strike, representatives of the federal government and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU, are meeting behind closed doors.
The meeting started at almost 430 p.m. and is taking place at Prof. Tahir Mamman’s office, the Minister of Education.
The Federal Government team includes Dr. Yusuf Sununu, the Minister of State for Education, as well as other senior officials from the Ministry.
In an effort to prevent the planned walkout, ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke, who headed the union’s delegation, told reporters that the meeting’s purpose was to discuss unresolved difficulties that the universities were facing.
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Many problems remain unresolved in the system, which we think should have been addressed sooner rather than later.
“The problems would have been settled in accordance with President Bola Tinubu’s assurance that there would be no strikes in the university system.
He stated, “We’re hoping that this meeting can help to resolve some of these issues so that our university system and our nation can move forward.”
Prior to the meeting, Education Minister Mamman stated that it would give all sides a chance to discuss matters pertaining to the university system.
According to Mamman, ASUU had previously written to the Ministry outlining a number of problems and worries that the union and the institutions were facing.
He claimed that in order to potentially prevent any strike that the union would suggest, the issues required communication between the union and government representatives.
As of the time this article was filed, NAN says that the closed-door meeting was still in progress.
Due to the Federal Government’s unwillingness to accede to ASUU’s demands, the organisation had threatened to launch a statewide walkout.
Within two weeks, the union had requested the government to abide by the requests.
