The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off its four-week strike before the expiration date.
Ngige had met with the leadership of ASUU during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
During the meeting which lasted for several hours, the minister accused ASUU of claiming that the government had failed to implement some long standing agreements.
Ngige in an interview told one of our correspondents that ASUU demands were being reviewed, saying he would meet with ASUU and the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council next week.
He said, “We have discussed quite a number of things and I am urging them to brief their members and call off the strike before the expiration of the one-month duration of the warning strike. By Monday, we would have dealt with some of the issues they are talking about and return to them for further discussion. We will meet again with them and the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council and we will take it from there
However, the national president of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke insisted that the union would not call off its strike if all its demands were not met.
Osodeke said, “We can call off the strike tomorrow if the FG implements and meets all our demands. It is in their hands to meet all the demands not in our hands. If they want it called off this week, next week, it is possible if they should do what they are supposed to do and not all these empty promises that we are not sure they will not implement. But If you call off the strike, as usual, they will abandon everything.
But Ngige cautioned the union not to intimidate the committee and Ministry of Education, saying if they did, their document would not fly.
“We had a committee we impanelled in the ministry of education to take matters up because they are the direct employers of the lecturers. The committee was headed by Professor Manzali and there was a draft proposal which the education ministry has to agree on with them and then break it up to the higher bodies of the government, the Presidential Committee on Salaries, and from there, it goes to FEC for approval.