ASUU TO RESUME NEXT WEEK.

The Federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday finally signed a resolution that will bring to an end the five month old strike by ASUU .........It’s the final hurdle that will pave way for the full resumption of academic universities in the nation’s government-owned universities. The signs became clear when the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, and the ASUU President, Nasir Fagge walked into the Ministry’s Conference room hand in hand.
ASUU had insisted that the resolution reached with President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 be signed before suspending the strike. Issues raised by the Union include the provision of N200 billion revitalization fund for Universities to be deposited with the Central Bank and disbursed to the benefit of the Universities within two weeks and the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement in 2014. A non-victimisation clause is to be included in the final document and a new Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by a representative of the government and a representative of ASUU with the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress as witness.The government appears to have met these conditions.
Supervising Minister of Education, Nyseom Wike spoke during the signing. He said:
“Today, I am very pleased to announce that all contending issues between ASUU and the Federal government have been resolved to the satisfaction of the parties. Let me emphasize that we recognize and appreciate ASUU’s patriotic role and commitment towards ensuring that our Universities are well-funded, resourced and run like their counterparts in other parts of the world. Thus we are all partners in progress and there is no victor, no vanquished.”
NLC PRESIDENT, ABDULWAHEED OMAR commended the President for exercising patience during the stand off. He said:
“I must also commend the President of the Federal Republic because I am sure many people would have told him that why do you waste so much time discussing with them and so on.”
ASUU President, Nasir Fagge, who acknowledged the intervention of the President, says the matter would have been resolved much earlier. For the purpose of allaying any fears, the resilient ASUU leader assured newsmen that all the demands of the Union had been met. In his own words:
“What we had agreed with Mr. President at that 13-hour meeting has been judiciously documented.”
The big question now is when will ASUU call of the strike? On this, the ASUU President said;
“Our members will give us further directives.”
When pushed for a more specific response, the ASUU President replied, “Within the week”.
As Nigerian students brace themselves for the final suspension of the strike, the wish on the mind of many Nigerians is that such a impediment to the academic progress of the Youths never happen again.