The Federal Government has again failed to reach an agreement with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over its ongoing nationwide strike.
This comes as the meeting between the government and union held on Monday behind closed doors at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja ended without a resolution.
National President of ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, briefed reporters at the end of the meeting which lasted over three hours and presided over by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.
He said the meeting to resolve the over three weeks industrial action would continue at a later date.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives said it was worried about the ongoing strike which has grounded activities in most universities across the country.
Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Aminu Suleiman, stated this when he led members of the committee on an oversight visit to the Ministry of Education.
He appealed to the government and ASUU to go beyond resolving the current industrial action and provide lasting solutions that would make strike in the education sector a thing of the past.
The government, in a statement from the ministry, also said it was committed to ending strikes in the sector despite the challenges of funding.
ASUU commenced a total and indefinite industrial action on November 4 following a meeting of its national leadership at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Professor Ogunyemi had told reporters after the meeting that they took the decision due to the poor funding of universities in the country.
A day after the union announced its decision, Professor Ogunyemi accused the government of making cheap promises, saying their members would not be swayed by such.
“We have concluded that promises from the government are very cheap. We are not bothered about what promises the government makes now,” he had said during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Hours later, the government through the minister, appealed to the union to call off the ongoing strike.
Adamu who addressed a news conference said, “As the Minister of Education, I feel your pain; I share your concern and I am willing to go to any mile so that together we can change the narrative of this country for the better.
“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to ASUU to put off this strike in the name of the country, and in view of what the situation is. Come, let us continue the talk; it is something that we have already started.
“And I am optimistic that dialogue will produce better results. For us to negotiate under the pressure of strike, we will end up producing the kind of agreement we had in 2009, which almost all stakeholders have agreed is not easily implementable.”
On November 15, the government met with the union but the meeting ended in a deadlock.
.Channels Television