FG To End ASUU Strike, Commence Negotiations

In a bid to end the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the federal government is reportedly planning to resume talks with the leadership of the union.

An indefinite strike was declared in March, by the union, after they cited the federal government’s failure to meet its demands.

The industrial action was on the back of  disagreement with the government over issues on revitalization of universities and earned academic allowance.

The union raised other issues to include the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as well as funding of universities.

However, in a report published earlier by Thisday  the federal government would write a letter to the union’s leadership for negotiations to continue before the end of the week.

It said  the government has also accepted ASUU’s earlier request for a physical meeting, which was disagreed with earlier.

The source, which spoke with Thisday,  however, said the meeting would only hold if ASUU agrees to suspend its four-month-old strike.

“The move is meant to solicit the cooperation of the university lecturers in the efforts to put necessary mechanism in place for the reopening of tertiary institutions after months of closure due to COVID-19 pandemic,” the source said.

“The federal government will write to request that ASUU should suspend its industrial action to enable talks to commence on their grievances. The suspension of the strike is also important to get the university teachers involved in the preparations for the reopening of the institutions.”