The over 12 hours marathon
meeting between President
Goodluck Jonathan and striking
members of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities ended at
about 3.30am on Tuesday at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja without a
commitment from the union
members.
ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Isa
Faggae, told State House
correspondent that the
delegation was taking back an
undisclosed message to their
members following which a
decision will be taken on the
union’s next line of action.
“We have had a lengthy meeting
with Mr. President, robbing
minds on how best to address
the problem of university
education in this country. We
now have a message from Mr.
President that we are going to
take to our members and we are
expecting that our members will
respond appropriately to his
message,” he said.
He said since the message was
meant for members, he would
not divulge it to the press.
When asked whether he will call
his members to return to the
classroom, he said that decision
was left for members to take.
When further asked whether he
was impressed by the President’s
message, Faggae warned
journalists from putting words
into his mouth, insisting that only
ASUU members would determine
that.
Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka
Wogu, who listened to Faggae’s
encounter with journalists later
said progress was made during
the discussion.
He said, “We made progress. The
President of ASUU told you that
they are going back with a
message from the Federal
Government back to their
members and the message is full
of high expectation and hope.”
When asked whether ASUU will
call off the strike, the minister
said that was why he described
the message as full of
expectation.
“Our prayer is that they will come
back with positive outcome. They
might even not come back to
meet us. They might take
decision there that will meet your
expectations ” he said.
He added that the offers made by
the government during the
meeting were offers that were in
line with the 2009 agreement.
He said since the issues that led
to the strike bothered on the
2009 agreement, the
government did not go beyond
that agreement.
The President was joined at the
meeting that started at 2.40pm
on Monday by Vice President
Namadi Sambo; Minister of
Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala;
Secretary to the Government of
the Federation, Pius Anyim;
Supervising Minister of
Education, Nyesom Wike; and
Wogu among others.
Faggae led the union team which
included past presidents such as
Prof. Abdulahi Sule-Kano, Prof.
Dipo Fashina and Prof. Festus
Iyayi.
President of the Nigeria Labour
Congress, Abdulawahid Omar
and that of the Trade. Union
Congress, Bobboi Kaigama, also
attended.
Other members of the delegation
were Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi,
Prof. Victor Osodeke, Prof.
Suleiman Abdul, Dr. Victor Igbum
and Mr. Michael Odunmoraye.

Na to wait now