There seems to be a ray of hope in the ongoing strike as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is scheduled to meet with Federal Government representatives on Tuesday.
President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who disclosed this on Monday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by ABN TV, said the meeting was to discuss one of seven issues ASUU is protesting over.
“That’s the issue of renegotiation,” Osodeke said.
“The renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
“It’s not just about wages. It has to do with the system, funding, structure, autonomy, and other issues and how to fund universities.
“The government has reduced it to just salaries alone. But if they had looked at the whole agreement and implemented it, we would not be talking about funding.”
Osodeke also suggested that if Tuesday’s meeting goes well, the strike action may be called off.
“We are willing to sign,” he added.
Recall that ASUU, on February 14, shut down public universities over the inability of the Federal Government to implement previous agreements both parties entered into.
The lecturers’ agitations include funding for the revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution, promotion arrears, and others.
