House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, has assured lecturers that President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to resolving the lingering ASUU strike.
Mr Gbajabiamila gave this assurance after meeting with the Academic Staff Union of Universities at the National Assembly Complex on Monday in Abuja.
While speaking with journalists after the close door meeting, the speaker said Mr Buhari has succumbed to ASUU’s demands, insisting that the matter will be resolved on Tuesday
Mr Gbajabiamila said after the last meeting with the union, the lawmakers took the unions’ concerns to the president.
“We spoke with Mr President. There was one sticking issue which was the issue of no work no pay. And the President did ask that he would suggest the recommendations and would have one more meeting which we did on Friday after the budget,” he said.
Speaking further, Mr Gbajabiamila said the demands of the union, based on the 2009 negotiations, will be provided by the government in the 2023 budget.
He added, “But beyond that, the other several issues have been taken care of. We were able to make sure that what ASUU was asking for in terms of revitalization, salary, that there has been significant improvement, revitalization has been provided for in the budget.
“We made sure of that. The salary structure has been looked at and there has been improvement as well, and we made sure of that.
“As you heard Mr President say during his budget presentation. He appealed to ASUU to go back to class and that N470 billion total has been included in the budget.
“The issue of UTAS which was another important issue both ASUU and the office of the Accountant General and government have agreed that they will work together and the peculiarities of UTAS that is required for the payment platform IPPIS, they would sit down together and the chairman Committee on Tertiary Education would also be part of that tripartite sit down arrangement to include all those things that are required by ASUU in the IPPIS platform.”
Emmanuel Osodeke, the national president of ASUU said that the Buhari-led regime is expected to sign a deal with the union in the next 48 hours.
“We are going to get some documents signed that we can take to our members. We will do that as quickly as possible in the interest of all of us, Nigerians and the students, so that this thing can be resolved as quickly as possible,” Mr Osodeke said.
He said that there is “light at the end of the tunnel,” adding that the union hopes that this will be the final resolution to the matter so the students can return to classrooms.
“From what we have seen today, for the first time since this our action started, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, because this is the first time we are having such a thing.
“We hope this time around there will not be any attempt by anybody or group to create something that will also make us run into anything again. We do hope that this will be the final in the interest of our children,” Mr Osodeke said.
While appreciating president Buhari and hoping that the meeting will be the final resolution, the union president said that if both the ministers of labour and education had resolved the issues amicably, the strike would not have been prolonged.
