ASUU STRIKE

Jonathan To Lead FG, ASUU Talks. Strong indications emerged Tuesday that President Goodluck Jonathan may have personally taken charge of efforts aimed at getting striking university teachers back to work soon. Jonathan met yesterday for more than two hours with the Federal Government’s officials engaged in the negotiation with ASUU at the Presidential Villa. At the meeting were Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim; Benue State Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam; Ministers of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i and Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu; Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, as well as the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe. The previous negotiations between the Federal Government team and the union on Tuesday last week and Monday this week at the office of the SGF failed to yield result as the teachers insisted on the implementation of the 2009 ASUU/FGN agreement. Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Suswam, who chairs the implementation committee of the NEEDS Assessment panel of the universities, expressed confidence that with measures so far put in place by the Federal Government, there was hope that the teachers might call off the strike soon. He also noted government’s readiness to make available N30 billion out of the N87 billion being demanded by ASUU to be disbursed as earned academic allowances to the teachers, in addition to the N100 billion for infrastructural rehabilitation in the universities.