ASUU Strike: Governmental Subcommittee to Be Set, Next Meeting with Lecturers Shifted to Tuesday

The consultations between striking university lecturers and the representatives of the Federal Government on August 1 did not resolve the contending issues, but the parties have agreed on setting up of a government committee.

This was revealed by the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Mr. Nasiru Fagge, in a telephone interview with the reporters. Mr. Fagge explained that the last meeting was ‘an inaugural meeting’ and that the head of the government negotiating team and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Pius Anyim, stated “what he wants to do.” He said the government delegation set up a sub-committee to source data from the National Planning Ministry on the contentious issues while the government’s meeting with the lecturers would continue on Tuesday. The striking university lecturers demand that government fully implements the 2009 agreement with ASUU, while the government says it wants to renegotiate some parts of the agreement. The strike is currently in its fifth week as hundreds of thousands of public university students are kept out of class.

The lecturers, through their various zonal executives, have said that they would not return to class until government agrees to implement the 2009 agreement fully.