Strike: Nigerian govt, ASUU to meet Wednesday

A committee set up by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, will meet on Wednesday with the representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the issues fuelling the union’s threat of another strike.

The planned meeting is part of the government’s efforts to avert lecturers’ strike in public universities.

ASUU Vice President, Chris Piwuna, a professor, disclosed this to our reporter on Monday.

He said the union met with the government last week to discuss pertinent issues. He added that some ASUU members will be meeting with the committee to address certain grey areas, noting that the meeting would not be between Mr Mamman and the leadership of ASUU but with selected members to interface with the committee set up by the minister.

“Just like our president informed us, we had a meeting with the government last week and we listened to the government on what they’ve done. But there are areas that need to be looked at and that’s where this committee will hopefully clarify,” he said in a telephone interview.

Mr Piwuna did not provide specifics as to the work of the committee, noting that “it would be better if the work of that committee is concluded, perhaps the president will be able to speak on them.”

Background

Mr Mamman, a professor, set up the committee after his first meeting with ASUU following a 21 day strike notice issued by the union last month.

After its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the University of Ibadan on 18 August, ASUU asked the governments to address all the “outstanding issues” hindering the development of the nation’s universities which informed its prolonged strike in 2022.

The union rejected what it described as the “slow pace of the intervention” by the education minister in resolving the issues which include the review and signing of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement.

The union is also protesting the continuous use of a centralised payment platform, the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), for the payment of its members’ salaries.

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Though Mr Mamman said in December that the university has been excluded from the payment platform, ASUU insists that its members are still being paid with what it described as ‘News IPPIS’, which it said is the same as the platform it rejected.

After the initial meeting, the spokesperson for the education ministry, Folasade Boriowo, told PREMIUM TIMES that the strike had been averted as both parties met again on 6 September to continue negotiation.