The Federal Government delegation and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are currently engaged in a closed-door meeting to address the ongoing crisis and avert a potential strike by the union.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting began on Thursday at about 4:30 p.m. in the office of the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, and other top ministry officials are part of the federal government’s team.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, leading the union’s delegation, informed newsmen that the meeting aims to discuss unresolved issues affecting universities to prevent the planned strike actions.
“There are a lot of outstanding issues within the system that we believe should have been addressed by now,” Osodeke said. “These issues should have been resolved as per the promises made by President Bola Tinubu, and there would be no strike in the university system. We hope this meeting will resolve some of these issues so that we can progress as a country and within our university system.”
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, stated that the meeting offers an opportunity for both parties to discuss issues impacting the university system. He mentioned that ASUU had previously written to the ministry outlining various concerns.
Mamman emphasized that these issues require discussions between the union and government officials to prevent any proposed strike by the union.
NAN reports that the closed-door meeting is still ongoing at the time of this report.
ASUU has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike over the federal government’s failure to meet its demands. Osodeke urged the government to address all outstanding demands within two weeks.
