President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, says the union will soon call off their strike.
He gave the hint on Monday at meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives in Abuja.
“This time around it is hoped that there would not be any persons or group to create issues that would make the union run into any hitch.
“ASUU’s struggle was for the educational and university system in the country.
“We want to have a system where the remuneration is enough to attract lecturers all over the World to our universities.
“We hope that the intervention by the leadership of the House would be the final for the sake of the students.
“We, therefore, hope that in the next few days, we will put an end to this strike,” he said.
Osedeke said, Nigerian universities should also be paid in hard currencies for attracting foreign students while expressing worry over some good lecturers that were leaving the country.
“We are the giant of Africa and we must live by that.
“We thank the speaker for this intervention and we must work together so that every Nigerian will be proud of the universities we have,” he further said.
He said that the strike should not have gone beyond two weeks, “if the National Assembly had intervened before now”.
The Speaker of the House of Reps, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the intervention by the leadership of the House was fruitful.
Gbajabiamila also said that the meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari was far-reaching adding that the President’s decision would be made known to the union and the public on Oct. 11.
He said that the leadership of the House were able to ensure that all the demands of ASUU in term of revitalisation and salaries, among others, had been provided for in the 2023 budget.
He said that N470 billion had been included in the 2023 budget to accommodate ASUU’s demand.
“The issue of UTAs has been resolved as both the government and ASUU have agreed and both will sit to agree to include all the peculiarities required by ASUU on the IPPIS payment platform.
“I believe we have covered ground, and it’s basically what we have agreed on.
“ASUU would have called off the strike today and hopefully in the next couple of days.
“We thank ASUU for responding at every moment we have called them.
“We met in my office and it was positive. We did this for the sake of our students,” Gbajabiamila said.
Source: The Guardian
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