The President of the Academic Staff Union Of Universities, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi has released a statement that the Federal Government meeting with ASUU scheduled for today, December 9, 2020, has been postponed indefinitely.
The reason for the postponement, according to professor Biodun, was because the time frame given to the union to consult its members is too short.
Earlier on, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has said the union had promised to call off the 9 months old strike today, December 9, today following the tangible agreements that the government and ASUU have reached.
In a statement released from the media office of Dr. Ngige yesterday, to counter the claims made by ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, that FG has failed to deliver on the timelines on offers made to the union, Dr. Ngige insisted that the government has kept all her promises to ASUU.
The minister revealed that ASUU agreed at their last meeting with the government team on November 27 to call off the nine-month-old strike before December 9. “The truth of the matter is that a ‘gentleman agreement ’ was reached at the last meeting in which ASUU agreed to call off the strike before December 9, 2020.”
The Minister stated that he was going to get a presidential waiver on the principle of ‘No Work, No Pay’ under section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act, in order for ASUU to be paid the remainder of their salaries for the months they were on strike, once the strike has been called off.
However, ASUU insists the salaries be paid first before they can resume back to class. The opposing stances of the both parties were probably going to be addressed today. However, ASUU has backed down from the meeting on the grounds that the time frame given to ASUU to consult its members is too short.
In light of the fast approaching Christmas and new year festivals, the talks between FG and ASUU will likely continue in 2021. Then, the Nigerian public university students can have the hope of returning back to school.
