The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has disclosed that the Federal Government will on Monday meet with officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other relevant stakeholders to address the strike notice issued by the Union.
Mamman made the disclosure on Friday, August 23, 2024 in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists during a briefing marking his one year in office.
TheFact Daily recalls that ASUU recently issued a 21-day notice of strike to the Federal Government over several unresolved issues.
In response, the Minister informed that most of the issues of contention dated as far back as 1981. He however said letters of invitation had been sent to the leadership of the Union and other organisations and that their grievance was being attended to:
“Most of the issues raised by ASUU are being attended to. For instance, the issue of exit from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has since been resolved by the President. Bureaucracy is the reason for delay in the implementation of that directive. But by the time we meet on Monday, some of these issues would be discussed and resolved”.
“Most of the demands of ASUU started in 1981. And virtually all government has had its fair share of ASUU strike. But the President made a commitment during the campaign that permanent solution would be provided this time, and he has shown that in his steps and actions,” he said.
The Minister further appealed to ASUU to be considerate in their actions and be open-minded in their approach at the negotiation table so that interest of all parties would be properly represented.
Notably the demands include emergency revitalisation fund of public universities, payment of outstanding earned academic allowances, release of withheld salaries, promotion arrears and third-party deductions of its members.
The other issues include raised by ASUU are stoppage of illegal recruitments, proliferation of public universities/abuse of universities’ laws, regulations and processes, removal of universities from the treasury single account and new IPPIS to herald the autonomy of the universities.
Mamman also reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring an undisrupted academic calendar in the nation’s universities, adding that he would not hold back any support to ensure that the era of academic disruptions were over.
