Gossipmataz

CRUCIAL MEETING BETWEEN ASUU AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO HOLD TODAY

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By prince Everest

Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU is set to hold meeting with the Federal Government today through the ministry of labour and employment over the strike that the union embarked on since November 5.

The Punch confirmed that the Federal government delegation led by Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of labour and employment, would meet with ASUU executive led by the National president , Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi in Abuja, to review the September 2017 memorandum.

On November 4, during the National executive council meeting held in Akure, Ondo state, ASUU asked it's members to resume strike because of some unimplemented area in the 2017 MoA, which suggested insincerity by the Federal government to the demands of the lecturers. 

Ogunyemi confirmed that the union would meet with the Federal Government's delegation today .

He said;

Yes, the government wrote  us on Tuesday, inviting us to a meeting on Thursday.”

A top ASUU member, who does not want his name in print, added that the meeting would focus on reviewing the 2017 Memorandum of Action and renegotiating the unimplemented areas.

He said,

We guess that,  apart from the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s delegation, there will also be representatives from the Ministry of Education at the meeting. You know what the labour ministry always says is that they are mediators. They bring the parties together to facilitate the resolutions of the crisis.

“The meeting will look at all the issues we have raised, both in the memorandum and even in the media.”

The Punch obtained a copy of the 2017 Memorandum of Action, which will be reviewed by the two parties and the memorandum highlighted the seven-point issues in dispute.

They are the funding of revitalisation of universities, earned academic allowances, staff schools, pension matters, salary shortfalls, Treasury Single Account exemption and state universities.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Federal Government Implementation Committee of the FG/ASUU agreement, Dr Wale Babalakin, has said ASUU must come to the negotiating table for permanent solutions to the issues, based on verifiable data.

Babalakin, while speaking in an interview, said the team remained committed to resolving the recurrent disputes militating against the progress of the tertiary education sector.

He said, “Information available is that the government manages to pay the salaries and sometimes the basic overheads of federal universities.”

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