The federal government’s negotiating team has said that it will meet again with the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) coming Tuesday.
The meeting, which is a follow-up to an earlier one held last week, will report the progress made in the implementation of the agreement reached with the union.
President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who, on telephone call last night, had confirmed the notification of meeting note further that “the union was in receipt of a notice on the reconvening of the reconciliatory meeting fixed for Tuesday.
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When asked to comment on the progress made in negotiations since the declaration of the one-month roll-over strike, Osodeke said that nothing new has happened.
“We have not heard anything from government since the last meeting. No one has reached out to us, except the notice that we will be reconvening on Tuesday for talks,” he said.
Reacting to the statement credited to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, that it would not be expedient for government to embark on wholesome salary review for the university lecturers, the ASUU president said that the federal government was not sincere.
He said that if President Muhammadu Buhari was “able to approve salary increases for the Nigerian Police and primary and secondary school teachers as well as the Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), for government then there is no reason why it will be difficult to do same for the lecturers”.
Osodeke also expressed concern over the non-approval of the ASUU’s proposed salary payment platform, University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), accusing the federal government of deliberately frustrating the efforts to enthrone best practices in the administration of universities in the country.
THISDAY
