universities have been on strike, the Federal
Government and the Academic Staff Union of
Universities on Wednesday finally signed a
fresh agreement.
The fresh pact is the review of the Federal
Government/ASUU 2012 Memorandum of
Understanding reached on the 2009
agreement.
Both parties, however, refused to reveal the
details of the agreement to journalists who
witnessed the signing of the agreement.
The meeting was almost boycotted by the
union until the intervention of stakeholders.
ASUU had on Tuesday vowed not to attend the
meeting because there was no commitment
and proper invitation from the government.
The union had demanded for proof of the
payment of the N200bn into a Central Bank
of Nigeria account for public universities,
non-victimisation clause, review of the
agreement in 2014 and that a representative
of government, preferably the Attorney-
General of the Federation to sign the
agreement as conditions to call off the strike
which began on July 1.
Our correspondent, however, gathered that
the union got three of its demands while it
relinquished one to the government.
The Federal Government agreed to present
evidence of payment, implement the non-
victimisation clause and that the agreement
was open to re-negotiation in 2014.
But it was the Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Education, MacJohn Nwaobiala,
who signed the agreement on behalf of the
government contrary to the demand of the
union.
ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Faggae, signed on
behalf of the union while the President of the
Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulwaheed Omar,
signed as a witness to the agreement.
The Supervising Minister of Education,
Nyesom Wike, who presided over the meeting,
said there was "no victor no vanquished" in
the dispute.
He said the Federal Government was alive to
its responsibility to restore normalcy to the
university system.
Wike argued that government only directed
the vice-chancellors of federal universities to
immediately reopen the universities for
academic activities pending when other minor
discrepancies would be sorted out.
"Today, I am very pleased to announce that all
contending issues between ASUU and the
Federal Government have been resolved to the
satisfaction of the parties.
"Let me emphasise that we recognise and
appreciate ASUU's patriotic role and
commitment towards ensuring that our
universities are well-funded, resourced and
run like their counterparts in other parts of
the world.
"Thus, we are all partners in progress and
there is no victor; no vanquished in the
struggle of this nature for as long as our goals
remain noble, not actuated by parochial
interests, but targeted at moving our nation
forward."
The minister on behalf of President Goodluck
Jonathan thanked Nigerians, the National
Assembly, the labour unions, traditional
rulers, parents and students for showing
understanding.
In his response, Faggae commended the
President for his intervention in the dispute.
He, however, stressed that the strike could
not have lingered if government had agreed
to document the agreement reached with the
union.
"If what we have agreed with Mr. President at
that 13-hour meeting had been judiciously
documented and our members were
convinced that it was going to be
implemented, we wouldn't have waited this
while because we also have a lot of respect
for the office of Mr. President and that of the
Vice-President.
"But you see our members are intellectuals, I
keep saying this. It is simply because over
the years particularly since the signing of the
2009 agreement we have been pursuing
government to get that agreement
implemented.
"We rarely succeeded in getting a portion of
that agreement implemented by the
government. Here we are, we have gone for
about four years but it is never too late to
turn a new page and make sure we do what is
right with our universities."
Faggae said the country must place high
premium on education if it hoped to catch up
with developed world.
Faggae who said the decision to call-off the
strike lied with the National Executive Council
of the union, promised that the message
would be delivered within one week for a final
decision on the strike.
"We would now take this document to our
members and we are confident that our
members will do the appropriate thing.
"It was a sacrifice that was worth taking to
ensure that we do what is right for our
country," he added.
In an interview, Faggae said ASUU would make
its position known to government "within one
week."
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