The federal government and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) again met on Tuesday to address the ongoing strike embarked upon by the union.
Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, led the federal government’s delegation to the meeting while Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU president, led the lecturers.
Details of their latest meeting remain sketchy as of the time this report was filed.
The meeting comes hours after Ngige had expressed optimism that universities would resume in January following its recent meetings with the academic body.
The minister had while speaking in Alor, Idemili South local government of Anambra state on Monday, claimed that the federal government had so far met 98 percent of the union’s demands.
He had added that the remaining two percent would be addressed during Tuesday’s meeting with the union.
“We have met about 98 per cent of the request of ASUU; the remaining two per cent is what you can call promissory notes. So, I am very hopeful that by midnight of Monday, there are some works we are supposed to get on to do. They also have some work they are supposed to do on their own side with their people,” he had said.
“We will be meeting in the afternoon of Tuesday to compare notes. I believe that we might have come to the end of the strike after the meeting. It is a journey of a thousand miles which you will have to take one step first. Tomorrow, all things being equal, we will agree because we were disagreeing before.
“We disagree to agree and agree to disagree formerly. But tomorrow (today), I hope we will agree to agree. Once we do that, schools will open in January.”
The union had embarked on an indefinite strike in March over non-implementation of agreements and resolutions the federal government reached with it in 2009.
TheCable had earlier examined how the incessant industrial actions embarked upon by the union since 1999 have forced students out of school for over four years.
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