The Federal Government and the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council on Thursday failed to convince the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to call off their industrial action during a meeting called by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Agboola Gambari, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.
The meeting which was also co-chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, and the Christian Association of Nigeria’s president, Dr. Supo Ayokunle, could not persuade the ASUU leaders to return to the classrooms while negotiations were ongoing to meet their demands.
It was gathered that the FG and NIREC attempted to persuade the union to return to the classrooms during the closed-door technical session, promising that their demands would be met, but the ASUU leadership reportedly said the government had to meet part of their demands which they could use in convincing their members to call off the ongoing strike.
The meeting, which was held at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, was attended by other registered trade unions in universities, as well as identified interest groups and civil society groups.
Ngige said that the Federal Government had reached an agreement with the union, adding that certain timelines had been set and that specific parts of the agreements would be implemented from next week.
According to the minister, the issues of wage review and renegotiation of the 2009 agreement would be addressed soon.
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