The Federal Government has indicated that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities would soon be called off.
Expressing surprise on the renewed strike which commenced on February 14, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said that the action of ASUU negated the consensus reached with the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Supo Ayokunle.
The Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, Charles Akpan, quoted the Minister as saying that “I sincerely thought ASUU and the Ministry of Education would have resolved the issues which hopefully are not major areas of dispute, warranting industrial action.
“It is the mandate of my Ministry to apprehend industrial disputes wherever they occur and we have apprehended this.
“From this negotiation, we are having today, ASUU will appreciate that government means no harm. This is because even if there are still lapses in the implementation of the agreement, they are not such that will lead to industrial action. To that extent, we have to do everything possible to resolve this.
“I must tell you that on the government side, they were taken by surprise in that before then, NIREC met with you (ASUU) and reported to the President. Having met with you (ASUU) and having given the details of their meeting with you, we sincerely hoped we won’t again take this route of industrial action.”
The Minister expressed optimism that “It should not be one month strike. In fact, there is nothing like one month strike or warning strike in labour parlance. A strike is a strike. We want this to end as soon as possible, as we sort out all grey areas in the agreement as the ILO Principles at Work allows for renegotiation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. So, we go back to the draft agreement.
“We must avoid another situation where our children bear the brunt of two elephants fighting.”
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, blamed the Federal Government for the strike, saying that apart from not implementing the 2020 MOA, it also failed to convene the regular implementation monitoring meeting as agreed.
ASUU insisted that calling off the industrial action depended entirely on the Federal Government as members were determined not to shift ground until their demands were met.
