ASUU may stop strike in two weeks, as FG agrees to inject N150 bln in 2014

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.