The Federal Government has expressed confidence that the Academic Staff Union of Universities will end its strike before the January 15, 2021 deadline given by the National Association of Nigerian Students to end the impasse.
The Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, expressed the confidence as the Federal Government and ASUU resumed negotiations in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ngige said: “The government would disappoint all those wishing for the protests as all the matters in dispute must have been resolved by January 15.
“Those who want to use the #EndASUU protest to destroy public and private property or lecturers’ homes will be disappointed.
“I am optimistic that the meeting will produce the final result that will make everybody happy.”
Ngige told the ASUU delegation to the meeting that he had received confirmation from the Federal Government that most of the grey areas had been dealt with.
He said: “We are hopeful that ASUU will then take the report of what we achieved today to their members.
“We allow social dialogue in line with ILO conventions for all employers and employee to guide this meeting.”
The President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said they sympathised with their students who are also their children, adding: “No amount of sacrifice would be too much to get the matter resolved as long as the government is consistent with its commitments”.
Ogunyemi revealed that they came for the meeting with all sense of responsibility to resolve the crisis in the interest of the students and ASUU members, who, he said, had been starving.
He, however, said only the National Executive Committee of ASUU could announce the suspension of the strike.
