Proposed Strike: FG Inaugurates Renegotiation Committee, Insists Old Agreements Unrealistic

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Afraid of the threat made by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to go on a nationwide strike over non-implementation of agreements reached by the federal government and the Union, seven members of the renegotiation team were yesterday inaugurated in Abuja.

The re-negotiation of the 2009 agreements between the federal government and the university based staff unions, included ASUU, NAAT, SSANU, and NASU, commenced on Monday, 13th February, 2017.

Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman who inaugurated the seven-man committee headed by the Chairman of Pro-chancellors of federal universities, Dr. Yayale Ahmed, said foremost expectations from the committee would include a conclusion that was realistic to the present situation of the country.

Recalling that a lot of things have been achieved by the past committees, Tahir said apart from agreements, the federal government was working for the union with relevant ministries to get around grey areas.

While laying emphasis on the need to improve the poor performances of Nigerian universities in global ranking, the minister called on the union to remember that it was sowing seeds for the future, which would lead to more disagreements with insistence on old agreements.

“Regrettably, this had lingered for this long due to a number of unforeseen circumstances. However, it is important to state that the immediate past leadership of the renegotiation committee under Professor Nimi Briggs, produced a draft report with significant areas covered, and agreed on what would be a spring board to hinge on going forward to conclude the exercise.

“The committee, which is expected to review the draft proposed agreements with the various university based unions, has the following terms of reference, thus including to renegotiate in realistic and workable terms the 2009 agreement with other university-based unions.

“Negotiate and recommend any other issue the committee deems relevant to reposition the NUS for global competitiveness and submit proposed draft agreements within three (3) months from the date of inauguration.”

National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in his response to accepting to work with the committee, told members of the committee to as a matter of priority, to workout the timeline to when it would achieve results.