The Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) has said that ending the ongoing strike would depend purely on the federal government.
The union made this known on Tuesday during a conciliatory meeting with the federal government in which it said members were determined not to shift ground until their demands were met.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said that the ongoing one month strike action of the ASUU would soon come to an end.
the Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige gave the assurance while addressing the resumed conciliation meeting with the union .
Ngige said the federal government was taken aback by the renewed strike which university teachers embarked on February 14, 2022.
The Ministry’s director of Press, Mr. Charles Akpan made this known on Tuesday in a statement made available to The New National Star.
According to him, the government was surprised ASUU negated the understanding and assurances it gave through the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council(NIREC) led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria , Rev. Supo Ayokunle.
The Minister who disclosed that he was in Botswana for the meeting of the African Regional Labour Administrative Centre(ARLAC) when ASUU declared action, said he thought the university teachers and their employer, the Ministry of Education would have resolved the areas of disputes within days.
“ I sincerely thought ASUU and the Ministry of Education would have resolved the issues, which hopefully are not major areas of dispute, warranting industrial action. To my surprise , I came back , and the strike is still on. Be that as it may, it is the mandate of my Ministry to apprehend industrial disputes wherever they occur and we have apprehended this.
“ From this negotiation we are having today, ASUU will appreciate that government means no harm. This is because even if there are still lapses in implementation of agreement , they are not such that will lead to industrial action. To that extent , we have to do everything possible to resolve this.
“ But I must tell you that on the government side, they were taken by surprise in that before then, NIREC met with you (ASUU) and reported to the President. Having met with you (ASUU) and having given the details of their meeting with you, we sincerely hoped we won’t again take this route of industrial action . So , the government side is taken by surprise- Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and all are taken aback.”
Ngige, however, assured that, the strike had been apprehended by his Ministry and that the ongoing conciliation would prepare ground for an expanded meeting which will involve NIREC.
“It is my mandate to apprehend industrial disputes and this has been apprehended so we can discuss, and later expand to what is called tripartite plus meeting, involving members of NIREC who are top religious and traditional rulers, we cannot push aside. And that is as soon as we are done and agree on issues here,” he said.
The Minister expressed optimism that the strike would be called off soon to enable students go back to school.
“It should not be one month strike. In fact there is nothing like one month strike or warning strike in labour parlance. Strike is strike. We want this to end as soon as possible, as we sort out all grey areas in the agreement as the ILO Principles At Work allows for renegotiation of Collective Bargaining Agreement. So we go back to the draft agreement. We must avoid another situation where our children bear the brunt of two elephants fighting,” he said.
As a neutral negotiator however, the Minister urged the government side of the negotiation to leave no stone unturned in fidelity to agreed timelines.
“ I hence urge the government side to be realistic and factual as far as this negotiation goes. I wear a double cap, first as a conciliator and then, a Minister of the Government of the Federation. While I say so far , so good , let’s not rest on our oars. We must keep to the timelines.
He further debunked claims by ASUU that all the items in the 2020 MOA have not been fully implemented, stating that the ones not completed, were in progress .
“ I did a correspondence on the report by NITDA on UTAS to you (ASUU) in December 2021 and you sent your observation in a reply in February 2022. I made that available to all the parties involved, that this is the observation from ASUU. So ,as far as I’m concerned , it is work in progress. I’m not the Minister of Education. My Ministry is not your direct employer, but I take this proactive measures to fast track agreements , and ensure we meet up the timelines.
“ Apart from that, all the issues in the agreement are being religiously implemented, including but not limited to the payment of Earned Academic Allowances through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation in November / December 2021. So , most of the issues in 2020 agreement , which moved over to 2021, and for which we met in October 2021, to take progress report on, are all works in progress. So it is wrong for you to say nobody is doing anything on the MOA.”
ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke in his speech blamed the Federal Government for the ongoing strike, alleging that apart from not implementing the 2020 MOA, government also failed to convene the regular implementation monitoring meeting as agreed.
ASUU insisted that calling off the industrial action depended entirely on the Federal Government as members were determined not shift ground until their demands are met .
The conciliation is still ongoing as at 6:30pm.