Representatives from the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are currently engaged in a private meeting to address ongoing issues and prevent a potential strike by the Union.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting began at around 4:30 pm on Wednesday in the office of the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman.
The federal government’s delegation includes the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, and other senior officials from the ministry.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, leading the union’s delegation, informed journalists that the meeting aims to discuss unresolved matters affecting universities to prevent the planned strike.
“There are a lot of issues that are outstanding within the system and we believe that before now, they would have been taken care of.
‘The issues would have been resolved in line with the promise made by President Bola Tinubu and there would not be a strike in the university system.
“We hope that this meeting will be able to resolve some of these issues so that we can move forward as a country as well as our university system,” he said.
Prof. Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, stated that the meeting would serve as a platform for both parties to discuss the problems affecting the university system.
Mamman noted that ASUU had previously written to the ministry outlining various issues and concerns impacting the universities and the union.
He emphasized that these issues necessitate dialogue between the union and government officials to prevent any proposed strike by the union.
NAN reports that the closed-door meeting was still in progress at the time of this report.
ASUU has threatened to initiate a nationwide strike due to the federal government’s failure to meet its demands.
Osodeke had urged the government to address all outstanding demands from the union within two weeks. (NAN)
