Determined to bring to an end the four-month strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), President Goodluck Jonathan Monday formally took over the negotiations with the union.
The meeting which started at 2.40 pm was adjourned around 7 pm for a 15-minute break but reconvened later in the evening.
During the break, the lecturers were overheard saying that they were going to consult among themselves on the deliberations with the federal government team.
They were seen entering the white bus that brought them to the villa where they ostensibly had a brief meeting before heading back for negotiations with the president and his team.
As at press time at 2.10 am, the meeting between the federal government and the union was still ongoing, leading to speculation that an agreement had not been reached.
The president had led a high-powered federal government delegation that included his deputy, Namadi Sambo, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, to hold talks with ASUU, with a view to finding a common ground that will end the strike.
Also on the federal government’s delegation were the Chief of Staff to the President, Mike Oghiadomhe; Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu; National Universities Commission (NUC) Executive Secretary, Prof Julius Okojie; and other presidential aides.
The National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, led a nine-man team which included Prof. Dipo Fasina; Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Abdulwaheed Omar; Trade Union Congress, Boboyi Kaigama; Prof. Festus Iyayi; Prof Abdullahi Sule-Kano; and Suleiman Abdul, among others.
Earlier in the day, the president had met with Sambo, Wike and Wogu, preparatory to the meeting with the ASUU team.
On entering the conference room yesterday afternoon, the president expressed optimism that the meeting would be fruitful, saying the students must return to their campuses as soon as possible.
“My president, I am sure the problem will be over today. Our children must go back to school,” Jonathan told Fagge while exchanging pleasantries with him.
Also, when he got to where Omar was seated, he said: “With you here, it is signed and sealed.”
Before meeting with the president, the union had met with Senate President David Mark, during which the parties agreed that the strike had taken a severe toll on parents, students and the nation and decided to increase efforts at finding a common ground at resolving it.
While welcoming the ASUU delegation, Mark noted that the strike had reached a stage that called for its end in the interest of the educational development of the nation.
According to him, “This is not a case of winners or losers. It is not a matter of ego. The national interest is at stake. We must do all that is necessary to resolve this matter so that students and teachers can return to classes.
“Nobody is happy about the strike now in its fourth month. Nobody is happy that our education system is threatened by this ugly development. Let us end this strike for good.”
In his response, Fagge said the struggle was necessitated by the need to improve the infrastructure and learning environment in the universities with a view to producing graduates that can equal their counterparts anywhere in the world.
He noted that the strike did not in anyway profit the lecturers but was a necessary sacrifice for government to do what is right in the education sector pointing out, “We are not just lecturers, we are also parents and students, so the strike is also affecting us negatively.”
The lecturers, he added, were neither happy nor proud of their graduates any longer as they are unable to compete favourably with their counterparts across the globe on account of the poor learning environment. He said the situation had become worse as Nigerians migrate to other nations in search of qualitative education.
The meeting later went into a closed-door session for about two-and-a-half hours. The Senate President however declined to comment on what transpired later, but the ASUU president told journalists that they simply had an in-depth discussion with the senate president and requested him to use the influence of his office to end the strike.
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