The Federal
Government of Nigeria has appealed to striking varsity lecturers to call off
the strike and allow for another round of negotiation as the government cannot
honour the 2009 agreement it reached with the body.
Labour Minister Emeka Wogu stated this while briefing the
leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the activities of his
ministry. It was at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
“We have made offer to ASUU. It is as complex as presented.
Negotiation is ongoing. The National Assembly is equally involved. We believe
they will soon call off the strike. I personally and passionately appeal to
them to call off the strike.
It will not affect the negotiation, if they call off the
strike. It is better for them to be inside than outside. Students have equally
appealed to them.
I inherited an agreement signed by the Federal Government
with ASUU and that agreement is practically impossible for any administration
to implement. We are still discussing with them. If I leave here, I am going to
the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) where we
are meeting with them. I hope that very soon, we will resolve it.”
The nine-point agreement the government entered into with
ASUU include: funding requirements for the revitalisation of Nigerian
universities; Federal Government’s assistance to state universities;
establishment of NUPEMCO; and progressive increase in annual budgetary
allocation to the education sector to 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020.
Other components of the agreement are: payment of earned
allowances; amendment to the pension/retirement age of academics non
professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years; and reinstatement of prematurely dissolved
Governing Councils.
Also included in the agreement are: transfer of Federal
Government’s landed property to the universities and setting up of research
development councils and provision of research equipment to laboratories and
classrooms in the nation’s universities.
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