ASUU Outlines Conditions For Truce

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the Federal Government to show concrete evidence of commitment to agreements on meeting its demands on its ongoing strike..
Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU President, said in an interview with newsmen in Abuja last Monday that the union would communicate its decision on offers made by the government yesterday.
Mr Ogunyemi, a professor, said contrary to some media reports, the union did not reject the offer made by the Federal Government or make fresh demands.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, after meeting with the union on Jan. 4 said government was about resolving the dispute with the lecturers who embarked on strike on Nov. 5, 2018.
Mr Ngige said the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation had provided evidence that N15.4 billion for the payment of salary shortfall in public universities.
He also noted that there was evidence that Mr President had approved N20 billion to offset the outstanding arrears of the 2009 and 2012, audit verified earnings in the university system.
Mr Ngige, however, said the fund was being worked on and would be released to ASUU as soon as the process was complete, among other demands of the union.
“We have been reviewing the offer made by the government and we have concluded our consultations with our members.
“We have concluded our consultations and hopefully by tomorrow (yesterday) we are going to transmit the feedback from our members to the Minister of Labour and Employment.
“What we said was that we are not insisting on having the total package.
“We are saying if government could give us one out of the five tranches on the revitalisation fund it will be a kind of bending backward in the interest of the students and national interest.
“So, rather than insisting that government should release a total of one trillion naira which we know is not feasible, government can, at least, give one tranche that can be spread over four quarters, starting with the first quarter now.
“This is the shift that the Mr Ogunyemi also said that members of the union were demanding to see money of salary shortfall paid into their accounts although they had seen the evidence of approval on paper.
He said the members of the union were demanding for concrete evidence on all outstanding areas that involved payments.