It’s refreshing to see that the Nigerian government is working towards ending the strike actions taken by ASUU, and the ones soon to be taken by ASUP and the College of Education union.
I personally think there is an urgent need to end this industrial strike taken by ASUU union, because the 2022 JAMB result has just been released on May 14th, and if nothing is done, there will be no classrooms for incoming students.
Latest information reaching our news desk this morning is that the Federal Government has commenced negotiations and plans to end all strikes, and the government is expressing optimism that the lingering strike by the various academic institutions’ unions in Nigeria will end soon.
According to the Head, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr Olajide Oshundun, who disclosed that there have been various meetings between the Federal Government and the unions, and there is a high possibility that these meetings will yield positive results by next week.
Here are the Unions on strike, including:
- Academic Staff Union of Universities,
- The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities,
- The Non-Academic Staff Union,
- The Association of Academic Technologists,
All these unions are currently on strike and are adamantly demanding, that the Nigerian government honour their various demands.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said and I quote below:
“We had a cordial and fruitful discussion with these unions currently on an industrial strike. We looked at the issues and reached some agreements, to the satisfaction of everybody in attendance.
We discussed and iron out issues causing these strikes to linger. Everybody was happy. So far, through these various meetings we’ve held, there have been some agreements between both parties. We hope that by next week, those agreements will start maturing. The four unions will also go and brief their members so that they can call off the strike and get these affected sectors working again.”
The statement added that the minister said the issues in the 2009 agreement, such as the renegotiation of the condition of service and the wage review could be concluded next week between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Nigerian government.