There are pointers that the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may soon be called off as the last meeting which the Vice President, Namadi Sambo held with the sector’s stakeholder seemed to be fruitful.
Although the individuals involved in the meeting failed to officially disclose the outcome of the deliberations, a source revealed that “all went well” during the meeting.
However, the ASUU team only assured that the union would make its decision on the strike known after the subsequent NEC meeting which is said to be slated for the next Saturday.
National President, ASUU, Dr. Nasir Faggae,, however, insisted that that the union would make its position known after the National Executive Council meeting.
But an anonymous source who was at the meeting, said the new offers made by the Federal Government could end the strike within the next two weeks.
The source said it the Federal Government had agreed to continue to “release fund to revitalize the university system” until the system is upgraded to a reasonable standard.
“The meeting went well, the vice-president made some new offers that were different from what was on ground before. For instance, the Federal Government had agreed to start the injection of revitalisation fund into the university system starting with N100bn this year and N150bn in 2014 and this will continue until the university system is solid enough to stand.
The strike embarked on by the public universities’ lecturers rises as the Vice-President Namadi Sambo met with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in Abujaon Thursday.
The meeting which held behind closed doors was attended by the acting Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike and the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie while the union was led by its National President, Dr. Nasir Faggae, and two former Presidents of ASUU; Dr. Dipo Fasina and Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano.
Other stakeholders at the meeting were the Vice-Chancellors of Bayero University Kano, Prof. Abdulrasheed Abubakar; Prof. Isaac Adewole of the University of Ibadan; and Prof. Muhammed Hamisu of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.