The Federal Government, through the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has scheduled a meeting with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday to address the union’s demands.
This announcement was made by the minister during an appearance on Television Continental’s “Beyond 100 Days” program on Thursday.
The move comes after ASUU issued a 21-day ultimatum to the government, following its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the University of Ibadan last week.
ASUU has consistently pushed for the implementation of agreements previously reached with the government, which include issues around salaries, funding for universities, and improved working conditions.
During the TV program, Prof. Mamman confirmed that the government had received the strike notice from ASUU and assured that efforts were underway to prevent further disruptions to the academic calendar.
He emphasized the government’s commitment to resolving the union’s grievances and stated that the upcoming meeting would focus on finding common ground to avert another industrial action.
Mamman said, “We got a correspondence of notice of strike from ASUU on Monday. We met yesterday to review those issues and we are going to be meeting with ASUU on those issues. Some of the issues are historic in nature; when you talk about 2009 agreement. This is something that dates back to almost 1981 when they started.
“We have been having a series of conversations with the leadership of ASUU on the issues affecting the university system so that we can, together, address all their concerns. The president is quite interested in issues about the progress of academic activities and his desire to have stability and lack of disruption in that sector so that the sector can contribute meaningfully to the academic and manpower development of the country and provide a suitable environment for partnerships with institutions.
“I share with ASUU their vision for a university system but the issue is always the approach. Government will not be able to address every concern at the same time because of other competing needs. That’s where we are.
“I believe we have what it takes to address the issues within three weeks and I also believe that ASUU doesn’t want to go on strike. It is a quest for us to be pragmatic and show understanding with regards to what is doable now, what is doable in the short term and what will require more time to do.
“We have already sent out notice to the leadership of ASUU for us to meet on Monday. Yesterday (Wednesday) we (government side) reviewed the letter submitted by ASUU and all the issues which are listed in the letter. It is our hope that by Monday we will meet to discuss them.
“We are also putting in place a team that will engage ASUU in the aspect of agreement which I said has a historic background. We are working in all directions to ensure that universities remain open.
“And some of the agencies of government that have responsibilities to fulfill in the issues raised in the ASUU letter we are engaging, we have written to them too. Like the NEEDS Assessment and allowances we are approaching our colleagues in finance. We need to put figures to some of these issues. In our last meeting we asked ASUU to provide details so as to facilitate implementation through engagement with our colleagues in finance for implementation.”
Some of the issues, according to ASUU, include: Conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement based on Nimi Briggs Committee’s draft Agreement of 2021; Release of withheld three-and-half months salaries on account of the 2022 strike action; Release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, part-time and adjunct appointments owing to the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (1PPIS); Release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions; Funding for revitalisation of public universities (partly captured in 2023 Federal Government’s Budget) and the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) (partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s Budget).
Others are: proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments; Implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities; and University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) in place of IPPIS.
