Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The five-month strike action by university lecturers may soon be over as President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu to resolve the lingering issues raised by the four university-based unions and report back to him within 14 days.
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, downed tools on February 14 following the failure of the Federal Government to meet their various demands.
Other university-based unions: Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU; the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions, NASU; and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, later joined them after several failed efforts to get the attention of the Federal Government to address their own grievances.
Minister for Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, has been making efforts to resolve the issues between the university workers and Government but the efforts seem to be yielding no results.
Meanwhile, Buhari’s ultimatum to Adamu to resolve the impasse came on Tuesday after the President received briefings from the relevant Government Ministries, Agencies and Departments involved in resolving the face-off with the university unions.
A Presidency source said Buhari who summoned the Tuesday meeting to receive briefing from the Government team on while the strike has lingered for too long, commended Ngige for his spirited efforts so far, but said the impasse must be resolved.
Buhari’s belated intervention is coming two days after the organized labour threatened to lock down the country in solidarity protest with the university-based unions.
Some top Government officials at the meeting were the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Ngige.
Others were the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta; and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.
Meanwhile, ASUU has said it would meet August 1 over the ongoing strike, accusing Government of insincerity.
