Strike: FG, ASUU Negotiations Hit Deadlock

The Federal Government has again failed to reach an agreement with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over its ongoing nationwide strike.

This comes as the meeting between the government and union held on Monday behind closed doors at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja ended without a resolution.

ASUU had embarked on strike three weeks ago over the poor funding of Nigerian universities and an alleged plan by the federal government to increase student’s fees and introduce an education bank. The union also accuses the federal government of not implementing a 2017 agreement.

The president of the union, Abiodun Ogunyemi, had stated conditions upon which the current industrial action will be suspended

“Some of these conditions, ASUU said, include the full implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) the two parties willingly signed in October 2017.”

“So the MoA must be implemented fully before we can even talk of suspension of the strike. If they implement the outstanding issues in the MoA fully and change the leadership of the negotiating team, then we can go back to the negotiation.” Mr Ogunyemi to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.