End strike now, Jonathan tells ASUU

•Union’s parley with Senate deadlocked

By Chesa Chesa and Celestine Okafor, Abuja

Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan began the much anticipated meeting with striking universities lecturers at the State House on Monday with an assurance that the industrial action that has shut down government universities for four months now would end by the end of the day.

Exchanging pleasantries with President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nasir Fagge, at the First Lady’s Conference Room of the Presidential Villa, venue of the parley, Jonathan said: “My president, all our problems will be over today, our children must go back to school”.

He similarly told President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulawahab Omar, who accompanied the ASUU delegation: “My president, with you around today, there will be no problem. Our agreement is signed, sealed and delivered”.

This is the first time Jonathan is hosting a meeting with the aggrieved ASUU leadership, after the Ministers of Education and Labour, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), and even Vice President Namadi Sambo had waded in and failed to convince the lecturers to call off their strike.

Government delegation in attendance at the closed-door meeting include Sambo; the SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim; Chief of Staff to the President, Mike Oghiadome; Ministers of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Education, Nyesom Wike; Labour and Productivity, Emeka Worgu; Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Universities Commission, Julius Okojie; and some Presidential aides.

On the ASUU team were Fagge; former ASUU presidents, Dipo Fasina, Festus Iyayi, Abdullahi Sule-Kano; Suleiman Abdul, and a few others.

While the ASUU team had earlier met with Senate President, David Mark, at the National Assembly before coming to the Presidential Villa, Jonathan also met with Sambo, Wike and Worgu in his office ahead of the meeting with ASUU delegation.

Jonathan announced a break at about 6.15 p.m., after which the ASUU officials left the hall and boarded their Toyota Hiace bus inside where they continued their own deliberations.

NLC President, Waheed Omar, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Boboi Kaigama, however, remained in the hall.

The meeting reconvened about 40 minutes later.

The meeting between the Senate President, Mark, and the leadership of the ASUU ended without any agreement.

Senate had in a resolution mandated the Senate President to mediate in the ongoing disagreement between the striking lecturers and the Federal Government over the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement signed by the two parties.

The two groups did not agree on Monday on calling off the strike after the union had presented their position before Mark.

But the union expressed optimism that the intervention of the Senate might bring a lasting solution to the crisis.

Speaking in an interview after a closed-door session with Mark, ASUU President, Nasir Isa Fagge, said the meeting was conveyed at the instance of the Senate and that after presenting their position, the union was waiting for the Senate’s reaction to their position.

When asked whether the meeting was conclusive, Fagge whose answer was in the negative, however, said the intervention by the Senate President was a welcome development.