Richard Ginika Izuora
Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has expressed optimism that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will sign the new agreements with the Federal Government to end the eight-month strike which began in March.
Ngige, appealed to ASUU to hasten consultations with its members; in order to return to the negotiation table before Friday.
“I feel that even this offer is one of the best they have ever gotten; since I started conciliation with them. I do not see why they should not accept it. Everything they asked for has been granted. I don’t think they should say the offer is not good.
“But I told them before they left that asking the nation and the students to wait from Friday to Friday is unfair; they should come back to us by Tuesday. They have done that before when we negotiated with the Senate President. The offer was made on a Thursday and they came back to us on a Tuesday.
“So, that’s what I expect them to do this time around. If they do so, the nation will appreciate them and regard them as patriotic citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I expect them to get back to me much earlier than Friday,” Ngige stated on an Arise TV interview.
The Federal Government last week accepted the demand by ASUU; that the lecturers be exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS.
Federal Government also offered to increase the Earned Allowances to university staff from N30 billion to N35b; and the Revitalisation Fund from N20b to N25b.
The development came after weeks of negotiations and disagreements by the Federal Government and ASUU; which proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as its preferred payment platform.