*Reps leadership to meet Buhari after agreement with ASUU
*Invite Ministers of Finance, Education, Labour, Accountant General, other stakeholders
*Lecturers present 7 demands before lawmakers to end industrial action
*National Industrial Court delivers verdict today over FG’s suit against ASUU
In what can be regarded as a positive signal to end the ongoing prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that the lawmakers are committed to doing everything possible to end the lingering crisis between the Federal Government and ASUU without further delay.
Gbajabiamila spoke on Tuesday after about five hours of closed-door meeting with the leadership of ASUU, Minister of State for Education, Mr Goodluck Opiah and the leadership of the House at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Speaker also said that the leadership of the House would meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the strike when he returns to Nigeria from New York, United States, where he is attending the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
It is instructive to note that Gbajabiamila has summoned a stakeholders’ meeting to resolve the crisis that had led to the over seven months old strike by the lecturers.
The Speaker had invited the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige; Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the national leadership of ASUU and other critical stakeholders.
The federal lawmakers have also invited the Accountant-General of the Federation, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Auditor-General of the Federation, and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to “finalise” on the meeting held with ASUU.
The invited government officials are to appear before the leadership of the House on Thursday.
In his remarks at the opening of plenary on Tuesday after the National Assembly returned from its two-month annual break, Gbajabiamila pointed out that the lawmakers owe the intervention to Nigerian youths and Nigeria’s future.
He said, “It has become necessary for the House to intervene in the extended face-off between the ASUU and the Federal Government. This current impasse is due primarily to disagreements over conditions of service of the staff and funding of universities in general.
“Therefore, this afternoon, alongside the leadership of the House and the relevant committees, I will meet with representatives of the ASUU. Our agenda is to explore whatever options there are for parliament to help resolve the present crises so that our children can return to school.
“It is long established that access to education, more than anything else, is key to unlocking prosperity and improving social mobility outcomes in any society. And we all agree that the government has a role in ensuring that our nation’s young people get a quality education that allows them to compete and thrive in the 21st-Century knowledge economy.
“Yet, evidence abounds that the current framework of government-sponsored tertiary education is no longer working as it should and hasn’t worked for a long time. Our immediate goal is to do everything to get our children back to school. However, the time has also come to begin a candid assessment of the current system and to consider all available options for complete reform. We owe this to our children and to our nation’s future.”
Speaking on why the disputes must be resolved without any delay, Gbajabiamila said, “There are seven areas that ASUU has presented — what we consider to be requisition to go back to class
“We have looked at these seven areas and we have more or less agreed on certain things.
“Pursuant to finalising the meeting of our minds, we have asked that NITDA, accountant-general, auditor-general and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) will be invited.
“Unfortunately, it’s too late to invite them tomorrow because the letters will only go out tomorrow. They will be invited to meet with the leadership on Thursday so that we can dot the ‘i’ and cross the ‘t’.
“We will meet with Mr President and lay before him the agreement made by this arm of government — the legislature and leadership of this house.
“We are hopeful and believe that Mr President will buy into the agreement and with that, I believe that this matter will be speedily brought to a close.
“In the meantime, between now and when Mr President comes, ASUU itself will go back to its members with the resolutions that we have come up with today.”
In his remarks at the crucial meeting, the ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said the resolutions reached with the lawmakers will be discussed with members of the union.
He then said, “In the very near future, the issue (strike) will be resolved”.
TheIdeal recalls that ASUU has embarked on strike since February 14, following the refusal of the Federal Government to implement a Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered into by the two parties in 2020.
The development has led to the shutting down of academic activities in public universities while the students have been at home for over seven months.
Meanwhile the National Industrial Court in Abuja will on Wednesday (today), deliver its verdict in an interlocutory injunction by the Federal Government against ASUU, asking it to compel the lecturers to call off the strike and return to classes, pending the determination of the substantive matter.
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