By Olusegun Olanrewaju, Francis Ajuonuma, and Cross Udo
The meeting between the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government yesterday ended without an agreement.
This means the six-month-old strike by public university lecturers is set to continue.
The striking lecturers met with the Prof Nimi Briggs Committee yesterday at the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja, with high hopes of resolving the impasse.
A senior member of ASUU, who craved anonymity, told Channels Television that members of the Briggs renegotiation committee did not come with any new offer on the table.
Instead, the ASUU source said, the committee pleaded with the lecturers to suspend the ongoing strike, with promises that their concerns will be included in the 2023 budget.
According to the source, the meeting, which started at about 12pm, lasted for about three hours without any agreement being reached.
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ASUU embarked on a four-week warning strike on February 14.
On March 14, the union extended the industrial action by another two months to allow the government to meet all of its demands. A 12-week extension was announced on May 9.
Since May 9, the union has remained on strike, vowing to persist until its demands are met.
The academics are seeking improved welfare, revitalisation of public universities, and academic autonomy among other demands.
One bone of contention for academics is the non-payment of university revitalisation funds, which amounts to about N1.1trn.
But the Federal Government has said it doesn’t have the money to pay such an amount, citing low oil prices during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The agreement was struck in 2009.
Another is the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The academics have proposed an alternative payroll system, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
The new round of deadlock signifies that parents, students, and stakeholders have a hard task on their hands to get their children and wards educated in the ivory tower after a
six-month-old strike by public university lecturers.
Earlier in the day hope had been kindled with a revelation by ASUU president, Emmanuel Osodeke, that the union had reached an agreement with the government to adopt the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as the payment platform for lecturers and suspend the strike.
The ASUU leader disclosed that that was only one of the seven areas of disagreement between the union and the Federal Government.
Later in the day, the striking lecturers held a meeting with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, and the chairman of the re-negotiation committee led by Prof. Nimi Briggs in Abuja, with the hope of resolving the impasse that led to the ongoing strike.
ASUU leader, Osodeke, had said the union would suspend the strike if the Federal Government agreed to its demands at yesterday’s meeting.
“We have not had any serious communication, though they have invited us for a meeting on one issue, tomorrow (yesterday), which is the issue of renegotiation,” Osodeke had initially said.
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He added, “You know that there are seven issues why we are on strike. They are inviting for discussion on the issue of renegotiation, tomorrow, which is the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement
The government’s failure to implement its demands on salaries and allowances of lecturers improved funding for universities as well as the adoption of UTAS against the Federal Government’s preferred payment platform — Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), was one of the pillars of disagreement between the two parties.
The strike has shut federal government-owned universities for 183 days with President Muhammadu Buhari urging the ASUU to allow students to return to class.
Osodeke, however, stated that the government was not sincere in its negotiations.
He noted that “issues of IPPIS and UTAS have been put to rest because the test has been done and it has been agreed with the chief of staff, UTAS will be implemented to cover the university.
ASUU has laid the blame for the non-resolution of the strike on the doorsteps of the Federal Government.
Osodeke had accused a committee set up by the president, headed by the chief of staff to handle negotiations, of doing nothing to end the strike.
Briggs took over the renegotiation in May 2021 and has since then not been able to reach any tangible agreement with the universities’ unions, a development that has grounded government-owned universities since February 14 this year.
