Shelve Planned Strike, Govt Begs Varsity Lecturers

The national authorities has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to suspend its planned strike. It assured the national committedness to addressing each the outstanding demands.
The curate of Education, Dr Maruf Olatunji Alausa, made the plea successful Abuja yesterday portion briefing journalists connected the advancement of ongoing negotiations betwixt the national authorities and the university-based unions.

Dr Alausa disclosed that the Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, Federal Government Tertiary Institutions Expanded Negotiation Committee had been reconstituted and inaugurated to fast-track talks with some world and non-academic unions successful universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.

“We are finalising the components of the information of work that ASUU has proposed. Our counterpart committee is besides moving to reason its response, and hopefully, by the extremity of contiguous oregon tomorrow, the Mahmud Yayale Ahmed Committee volition contiguous the Federal Government’s counter-offer to ASUU,” the curate said.

He explained that President Bola Tinubu had fixed wide directives that each efforts indispensable beryllium made to forestall different disruption successful the nation’s tertiary institutions.

“The President has mandated america to bash everything humanly imaginable to debar strike. People astatine the highest level of authorities person been moving respective hours down the scenes to travel up with a robust but affordable effect to the unions’ demands. These issues person dragged connected for implicit 10 to 15 years, but this medication is determined to resoluteness them erstwhile and for all,” helium said.

The curate stated that dissimilar successful the past, wherever abstracted committees handled negotiations for universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, the authorities had present adopted a unified attack to guarantee ratio and coherence successful the process.

“In the past, we had 3 antithetic committees working, 1 for universities, 1 for polytechnics, and 1 for colleges of education,” helium explained. “But that was not an businesslike mode to negotiate. Now, we person 1 expanded negotiating committee that engages each tertiary institutions and each unions, some world and non-academic, to guarantee a holistic knowing of their needs.”

According to Dr Alausa, astir 80 per cent of the unions’ requests are akin crossed the tertiary subsectors, portion the remaining 20 per cent subordinate to peculiar vocation and organization needs.

“We person seen each the requests, and we recognize their peculiarities. The caller committee has started enactment already and volition proceed to prosecute the unions expeditiously to scope a mutually beneficial agreement,” helium said.

The curate besides urged ASUU and different unions to clasp dialog arsenic a archetypal enactment alternatively than resorting to concern action.

“We cognize you person been patient, but delight don’t usage onslaught arsenic your archetypal resort. These are issues that person lingered for decades. President Tinubu has shown genuine governmental volition and benevolence towards education. We volition resoluteness this substance comprehensively, respectfully, and successful a mode the authorities tin afford.”

Dr Alausa highlighted respective steps already taken by the authorities to show commitment, including the merchandise of N50 cardinal for earned world allowances and the proviso of N150 cardinal successful the 2025 fund for the revitalisation of tertiary institutions.

“The President has kept his promises. We person addressed promotional arrears, and the issues of wage awards and allowances person been resolved. By adjacent year, each arrears volition beryllium afloat cleared, including the 2025 wage award. The authorities is sincere and committed,” helium added.

He assured that discussions connected the caller conditions of work would soon beryllium concluded, noting that this was the last constituent of the ongoing dialog process.

“We person resolved astir of the concerns raised by the unions, and we are present astatine the last signifier the conditions of service. We are pleading for patience. The authorities is truthful and genuinely funny successful resolving this situation erstwhile and for all.”

LEADERSHIP study that ASUU has already begun afloat mobilisation of its members successful mentation for a imaginable nationwide informing onslaught up of its 14-day ultimatum, which is acceptable to expire connected Sunday this week.