Top government officials have been invited to a meeting by Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in an effort to resolve the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities strike (ASUU)
After a five-hour discussion in private between the House leadership and ASUU on Tuesday in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said this.
The National Information Development Agency (NITDA) Director General and his counterpart from the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission are among those invited, as are the Account General of the Federation, the Auditor General of the Federation, and them.
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He stated that on September 22nd, government representatives would show up to finalize the agreement’s talks before presenting it to President Muhammadu Buhari for his approval and implementation.
The speaker claimed that significant progress had been made and announced that the house was contacting ASUU directly as an independent branch of the government to learn what options might be available.
“Based on our deliberations, we are very hopeful that there is light at the end of the tunnel and we thank ASUU for making this time out for the interest of our students.
“There are principally seven areas ASUU has put forward as conditions for them to go back to class and we have looked at those areas and agreed on certain things.
“In pursuance to finalize the meeting, we have asked that NITDA, Account General of the Federation, Auditor General of the Federation, Salaries and Wages Commission be invited to meet with the leadership on Thursday.
“Once that is done, the leadership of this house will await the return of President Muhammadu Buhari from the ongoing United Nations General Assembly.
“We will meet with Mr. President and lay before him the agreements we have reached and we are hopeful that Mr. President will buy into the agreement and with that, this matter will be speedily brought to a close,” he said.
ASUU President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke thanked the speaker for intervening in the strike that is still going on in his speech.
He called the interventions a positive development and said the union will wait to hear the results of the meeting with the highest-ranking government officials.
Osodeke expressed his optimism that the problems would be handled in the near future as a result of the meeting he had with the speaker.
