Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila has disclosed that members of the House of Representatives will meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike that has devastated Nigeria’s tertiary education for the past seven months.
Following a closed-door meeting with ASUU leadership and Goodluck Opiah, minister of state for education, at the national assembly, Gbajabiamila stated that lawmakers were able to reach some agreements with the striking lecturers.
“There are seven areas that ASUU has presented — what we consider to be requisition to go back to class. We have looked at these seven areas and we have more or less agreed on certain things. Pursuant to finalising the meeting of our minds, we have asked that NITDA, accountant-general, auditor-general and the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) will be invited,” Gbajabiamila said.
“Unfortunately, it’s too late to invite them tomorrow because the letters will only go out tomorrow. They will be invited to meet with the leadership on Thursday so that we can dot the ‘i’ and ‘t’,” he added.
The Speaker further revealed that the lawmakers “will meet with Mr President and lay before him the agreement made by this arm of government — the legislature and leadership of this house.
“We are hopeful and believe that Mr President will buy into the agreement and with that, I believe that this matter will be speedily brought to a close.In the meantime, between now and when Mr President comes, ASUU itself will go back to its members with the resolutions that we have come up with today.”
Buhari is currently in New York, United States, attending the 77th session of the United Nations general assembly (UNGA), but the lawmakers have promised to convene a meeting after the president returns from the trip. A date for the meeting has not yet been determined.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Auditor-General of the Federation, and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) have all been called by lawmakers to “finalize” the meeting with ASUU.
On Thursday, the invited representatives of the administration will address the House leadership.
On his part, ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke stated that the agreements achieved with lawmakers will be addressed with union members.
Recall that ASUU went on strike in February, thus suspending academic operations in public universities for more than seven months.
However, the President Buhari administration had filed a lawsuit against the striking union after many failed negotiations.
