Malam Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education has on Tuesday, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari warned the government team involved in the negotiation with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, against signing an agreement that government would be unable to implement.
The minister, in his speech at the ongoing meeting of Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities, at the National Universities Commission, said the meeting convened at the instance of NUC, became “necessary and urgent due to certain misconceptions and misinformation in the public domain, regarding the ongoing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.”
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He said:
Not only is our interaction today necessary, it is also urgent to clarify the misrepresentations and draw your attention to the facts which you, as Managers of our Universities, ought to know by virtue of your assigned duties. It is indeed one of your statutory duties to negotiate with your workers on matters of their welfare and conditions of service.
He recalled that:
The current industrial action in our Public Universities started on 14th February, 2022 when ASUU commenced a two-week warning strike over the non Implementation of agreements reached between Government and the Union.
In all we have been doing, our guide has been the directive of Mr President Muhammadu Buhari, namely, that while the unions should be persuaded to return to work, Government should not repeat the past mistakes of accepting to sign an agreement it will be unable to implement. Government should not, in the guise of resolving current challenges, sow seeds for future disruptions.
He regretted that:
To confound matters further, the three other university non-teaching staff unions – SSANU, NASU and NAAT also declared trade disputes against the Federal Government and commenced nationwide Industrial actions a few weeks later. NAAT started its strike on March 17, 2022 while the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU followed suit on March 27, 2022.
He said:
In response to the Unions’ demands, the Federal Government reconstituted the FGN/University-based Unions 2009 Agreement Renegotiation Committee, with Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs as Chairman on 7th March, 2022. The Committee was charged with the responsibility of concluding the ongoing Federal Government renegotiation efforts with the University-based Unions and producing appropriate solutions, workable and enduring agreements for the improvement of the Nigerian University System (NUS).
