ASUU, FG to resume talks on Monday

The Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government are to resume talks Monday ( tomorrow ) on how to resolve the impasse over the two - month - old strike embarked upon by lecturers.
National President of ASUU, Prof . Biodun Ogunyemi , confirmed the development in a telephone interview with Www.churchillchoken.blogspot.com , in Abuja, on Friday .
He , however , said the union was not optimistic about the prospects of an early resolution of the industrial dispute.
In response to a question on whether there had been any fresh development with regard to the resolution of the dispute, Ogunyemi said, “ I ’ am afraid nothing new . I understand they will be meeting us on Monday. Let ’s wait and see if they take a reasonable step ; it will determine our next line of action . Until then , let ’ s wait and see . ”
The ASUU president had in an exclusive interview with The Www.churchillchoken.blogspot.com last week said members of the union were tired of government ’s failed promises .
He said , “ Last year, they promised to release the funds but they did not until November when the strike began . Our members are saying they do not want promises again ; what they want is action , implementation or disbursement of funds .
“ The government must act in a way to convince the union that the agreement has not been set aside . To show that the government has not set aside the agreement , they should release one tranche. ”
He explained that in order to forestall a situation where ASUU and the government would restart negotiations on arrears of earned academic allowances , both sides had agreed that “ it would be mainstreamed into the 2019 budget . ”
Ogunyemi also said, “ We are going to have a discussion on when to commence renegotiation because there are still grey areas. If the government can substantially address these issues , we will be more confident to face our members on the way forward . For now , the signals we are getting is that our members do not actually want to accept this government proposal from us . ”
Members of ASUU went on strike on November 4 , 2018 to demand for improved funding of universities and implementation of previous agreements with the government .
The union is also seeking the implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreements , Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU; 2012 and 2013 ) and Memorandum of Action ( MoA , 2017 ) , among others .
The union is also asking the Federal Government to expedite action on the release of funds to revitalise public universities in accordance with the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2012 , 2013 and the MoA of 2017 .
The university teachers are also demanding the release of the operational licence of the Nigerian University Employees Pension Company .
The Director of Press at the Ministry of Labour and Employment , Samuel Olowookere , could not be reached when one of our correspondents tried to get the reaction of the Federal Government on the issue
But a source in the ministry , who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Www.churchillchoken.blogspot.com that ASUU should be blamed for the delay in reopening the universities .
The source added that the FG had showed commitment to the ASUU’s demands and that it was better to start from what the FG had offered than to halt negotiation.
“ The Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr Chris Ngige , had told the leadership of ASUU that the FG would accept many of their demands but flexibility is needed to implement the rest . They left the meeting happy and said they would discuss the progress with their other organs . But they had delayed in moving forward . The blame is no longer in on the FG. ASUU should come forward with what they think of the FG’ s commitment so far . ”