The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday announced that following a five hours closed-door meeting with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the lawmakers were on the verge of completing negotiations with the university union.
What’s more
Nigeria’s House of Representatives has invited some stakeholders in President Buhari’s administration including the Accountant General of the Federation, the Auditor General of the Federation, the Director General of the National Information Development Agency (NITDA) and his counterpart in the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.
These invitees are to complete the lawmakers’ negotiations with ASUU before they transmit the agreement to President Buhari for approval and implementation.
The stakeholders would appear before the house on Thursday, September 22nd, 2022.
What they are saying
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, hinted that the seven-month-old strike is likely to soon end following the agreements between the lawmakers and the union.
- He said we looked at the seven areas ASUU needed to be addressed “and agreed on certain things.”
- He also added that the assembly would meet with “Mr. President and lay before him the agreements we have reached and we are hopeful that Mr. President will buy into the agreement and with that, this matter will be speedily brought to a close.”
Why it matters
The differences in reports from the federal government and the leadership of ASUU have left many Nigerian students and parents confused as to the exact details causing the lingering of the strike. While the federal government claims it has fulfilled 80% of the lecturers’ demands, ASUU continues to list demands not fulfilled by the federal government. The intervention of the lawmakers has helped both parties make headway in the negotiations.
In case you missed it
ASUU has been on strike since February 14th, following the federal government’s failure to address the university’s union demands. The lectures union demanded for a: “Renegotiation of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement; release of revitalization funds for universities; deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers; release of earned allowances; and the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to universities.”
- Several unions in the country, including Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) pleaded ASUU’s cause to the federal government.
- The federal government stance according to the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu was that it had met the union’s demand except the payment of 6 months’ salary arrears.