Strike: ASUU, FG Reach Truce As Reps Intervene

After the intervention of Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the Federal Government reached a truce.

The truce was reached at a reconciliation meeting in the National Assembly on Thursday.

The speaker invited the Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, and the leaders of ASUU to attend the meeting to avoid a planned strike.

At the meeting, the timeline for various agreements reached between ASUU and the federal government since 2009.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, stated in his speech that the House of Representatives will not sit back and watch things worsen between ASUU and the federal government due to differences.

Gbajabiamila said Nigerians cannot afford to strike again, nor can they use it as a tool that ASUU uses to push their needs every time.

He added that all parties must take responsibility for lingering disputes. However, he stated that ASUU has been very patient and the government must commit to fulfilling some of its agreements.

Professor Victor Emmanuel, Chairman of ASUU, said in his speech that the government has violated many issues and agreements.

He said that the government has repeatedly failed to resolve major issues such as subsidies, infrastructure, UTASS, and so on.

He said these issues always force its members to go on strike.

He added that they reached an agreement with the government on the 1.3 trillion naira handed over by the union to offset infrastructure and other funds. According to him, the two parties agreed that this sum will be paid in a trance of 200 billion N200 billion as the first non-payment.

According to him, that amount was later reduced to 52.127 billion naira, of which 30 billion naira was used as an infrastructure fund and 22.127 billion nairas received academic allowances (EAA), neither of which was paid by the federal government.

The Minister of State for Education, Henry Nwajuba stated that all ASUU’s claims are true and the government is meeting the requirements, especially the EAA and infrastructure funds.

The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning Zainab Ahmed confirmed this.

He said that there are payment regulations, some funds are already in place, and payments will be effected within a week. After the two ministers submitted their comments, the ASUU leadership agreed to these terms, saying that they will monitor developments before the strike notice expires.

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