President Muhammadu Buhari has supposedly directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to resolve the ongoing strike of university professors, ASUU and other university employees
President Buhari reportedly gave the directive on Tuesday after receiving briefings from relevant government ministries, departments and agencies involved in resolving the standoff with university unions.
ASUU has been on strike since February, while other university workers’ unions later began their own strike.
Apart from ASUU, the other university unions on strike are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Educational and Allied Institutions Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
In addition to demanding better welfare conditions and better university funds, the unions accuse the federal government of not fulfilling previous agreements with them.
Tuesday’s meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja was held so officials involved in negotiating with university workers could brief the president.
In the meeting with the president were the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Mr Ngige; the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of the Federation Service, Folashade Yemi-Esan; the President of the National Salary and Income Commission, Ekpo Nta, and the Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.
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A source at the meeting said the president, after listening to the relevant MDAs, instructed the Education Minister to ensure the impasse was resolved within two weeks and to report back to him.
The source said that President Buhari also ordered that Labor Minister Chris Ngige must be present at any meeting to resolve the crisis.
The President also instructed the Federation Government Secretary, SGF, Boss Mustapha, to be part of the team to interact with the striking unions.
More details later…