The Federal government of Nigeria Thursday in Abuja accused ASUU of bridging contract law by embarking on a warning strike without following due process. Speaking on behalf of the government, honourable minister of Labour and Employment, Sen Dr Chris Ngige said
“First of all I want to thank you all for accepting to be in this meeting at a very short notice, we had to send our notice on Tuesday against this meeting because of the urgency we attach to the matters that are before us. This is because ASUU have withdrawn their services with effect from Monday the 9 of March 2020. It indicated that it is a warning strike which they intend to carry on for two weeks
“With the withdrawal of services, an industrial dispute had occurred not withstanding the fact that the normal processes of withdrawals of services were not complied with, we felt that we have to apprehend this dispute here and now so that we will all comeback and fashion a way out of the issues”
After a prolonged technical session that lasted for over four hours, the minister said
“We have held very very fulfilling discussions and where necessary we debated, put forward our points both government side and the Union side.
“Both side were satisfied that we made reasonable progress in addressing few issues that have not been fully treated in that Moa.
“Therefore, we move to the next round of a new contentious issue which is the issue bordering on the non capturing of some ASUU members on the IPPIS platform which as you people know resulted in withholding of salaries and allowances of most ASUU members, that is for those who didn’t come on the platform and even some other few universities Non academic staff members.
“You already know that ASUU have a platform which they are developing call UTAS (Universities Transparent and Account System). We have had some preliminary agreement on what is to be done to accommodate the two systems.
“ASUU are to now get back to their members, consult the executive committee first and then the generality of their members so that they can agree on the modus operandi of trying to couple the two systems.
“So the meeting is been adjourned till Monday/Tuesday depending on when ASUU is ready with their consultations.
For us, we are reporting progress to you”. Ngige said
Responding, the ASUU president, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi said
“The minister of Labour and Employment have tried to summarize what transpired.
“From our own side, we will say that we had a frank session, frank engagement and issues were thrown up. Those issues like the honourable minister rightly mentioned came from outstanding issues in the February, 2019 Memorandum of action which tended to be overshadowed by IPPIS.
From the discussions we had, we have agreed that we will go and consult.
“The proposals that came up, we cannot pronounce on them until we consult with our members. I think that is where we will leave it for now”.
Dignitaries at the reconciliatory meeting includes the minister of Finance, Budget and National planning, Dr Mrs Zainab Ahmed, minister of state for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo SAN, minister of state for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, FCNA, permanent secretary ministry of finance (special duties) Mr Aliyu Ahmed, Acting Chairman, salaries and wages Commission Mr Ekpo Nta
It is hoped that when both parties reconvened by next week, students in the Nigerian Universities will breath a sight of relief.