The President, Academic Staff Union of
Universities, Prof . Biodun Ogunyemi,
on Wednesday said he has not been
invited to any meeting with
government officials.
Ogunyemi said the Federal
Government had only responded to its
August 28 , 2017 letter , in which the
union had listed the minimum
demands that must be met before it
would call off the ongoing strike .
He added that the union would
deliberate on the response before
accepting or rejecting the offer .
“ Yes , they (government ) have
responded to our letter and we are
discussing with them . We will discuss
their offer with our members and then
get back to them , ” he said on the
telephone, but declined to provide
further details.
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When asked if the union had a
meeting with government officials on
Wednesday , Ogunyemi said , “ No, I
have not been invited to any meeting,
we have only received a response to
our letter .”
ASUU had, on Tuesday , boycotted a
scheduled meeting with a Federal
Government delegation in Abuja.
Asked if the government had paid the
N23 bn , a source stated , “ No, I didn’ t
think they have paid anything . They
have an offer to what they said they
would pay and ASUU gave what it said
was a counter position .”
The Minister of Education, Adamu
Adamu, had said on August 18 , 2017
that the Federal Government had
offered to release N23 bn to ASUU .
The government had insisted that the
sum of N30 bn released to the
universities should be subjected to
forensic investigation .
Investigation by one of our
correspondents revealed that there
were no signs that the meeting
scheduled to hold between the union
and the government on Wednesday or
Thursday would take place .
Officials of the ministry , who confided
in The PUNCH, said there was no
mention of the meeting from the office
of the Minister of Labour and
Employment .
It was learnt that the minister would
have a meeting with the National
Association of Resident Doctors in his
office at 10 am on Thursday .
The PUNCH could not get the Deputy
Director in charge of Press , Mr. Samuel
Olowookere , and the Special Assistant
to the Minister , Mr. Nwachukwu
Obidiwe, to comment on the issue as
they did not return calls to their
telephones on Thursday .
The Federal Government’s negotiation
team with the striking Academic Staff
Union of Universities will now be
headed by Vice - President Yemi
Osinbajo.
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The Minister of Labour and
Employment , Dr. Chris Ngige , said this
during an interview with State House
correspondents at the end of
Wednesday ’s Federal Executive
Council meeting presided over by
President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Presidential Villa , Abuja.
Ngige said the government would
ensure that an agreement was reached
so that the striking university teachers
could return to work.
The minister stated, “ The government
thanks the parents and even the
students, who are supposed to take
their examinations now but have been
forced by circumstances beyond their
control to stay at home . I have one of
my children at home as we speak .
“ Government will make sure that we
reach a conclusive agreement with
ASUU so that they can go back to the
classrooms . This is the first national
strike that this government is facing
and we want to discuss .
“ At council today , the Vice - President
has taken over some of the aspects of
the negotiations and discussions. So,
we are continuing the meeting in his
office and when we finish meeting, we
will get back to ASUU for another
round of meeting.
“ We are hopeful that we will be able to
go to an appreciable extent to solve
some of the outstanding issues that are
preventing them from going back to
work.”
