The President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has said that “for the first time, we have seen light at the end of the tunnel.”
He stated this during a one-hour meeting that took place at the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Monday.
The ASUU President in a video obtained by Daily Info hailed the House of Representatives for its intervention in the protracted crisis between university lecturers and the Federal Government.
This is just as Gbajabiamila, who briefed the leadership of ASUU about his meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari over the crisis, said he expected that the strike would be called off “in a matter of days.”
Further, Gbajabiamila said most of the issues that caused the protracted crisis between ASUU and the FG had been resolved and that the strike would end “in a matter of days.”
The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, also said for the first time since the lecturers downed tools, “we have seen light at the end of the tunnel.”
Prior to the meeting with Buhari, the lawmakers held three stakeholders’ meetings, and after which the parties made a seven-point resolution which Gbajabiamila presented to the President.
Gbajabiamila had for the second time, a follow-up meeting with Buhari on Friday before he (Gbajabiamila) and Osodeke spoke on Monday.
From the proceedings of the meeting, the Speaker said, very significant progress has been made in consideration of the demand of both the government and ASUU with the hope of a positive outcome this time.
He said, “This is a recap to seal the deal on what has been a long-fought battle, a long hard road for everybody both for ASUU, the students, and the government.
“As you will recall, some weeks ago, the House got involved in this crisis and we had long, tough, intense meetings with ASUU.
“We had meetings with those on the government side and we are happy to report that as the result of the consultation and intervention of the House, very significant progress has been made and we are more or less at the of the road, wave for dotting some ‘i’s and crossing some ‘t’s.
“We agreed with ASUU and the government on certain things, which we took to Mr President. I have visited the President twice.
He added, “First time, we made our recommendations, with the government shifting some ground and ASUU shifting some ground. We spoke with Mr President. There was one sticking issue which was the issue of ‘no work, no pay’ and the President did ask that he would digest the recommendations and would have one more meeting, which was done on Friday after the budget.
“That meeting was even better than the first one we had with him. Mr President had agreed to settle things. I am not going to talk about that now, he would disclose whatever it is tomorrow – Tuesday.”
The Speaker added that the already presented 2023 budget of the federal government stands in favour of their need for revitalisation of Universities and remuneration of lecturers.
Gbajabiamila added, “beyond that, the other several issues have been taken care of. We were able to make sure that what ASUU was asking for in terms of revitalisation (of universities), salary, there have been significant improvements.
“Revitalisation has been provided for in the (2023) budget. We made sure of that. The salary structure has been looked at and there has been improvement as well, and we made sure of that.
“As you heard Mr President say during his budget presentation, he appealed to ASUU to go back to class and that N470bn total has been included in the budget.”
Concerning the issue of IPPIS and UTAS, Gbajabiamila stated that both sorties will have to sit together to create a balance.
He noted, “The issue of the IPPIS, which was another important issue, both ASUU and the Office of the Accountant General (of the Federation) and the government have agreed that they will work together and the peculiarities of UTAS that are required for the payment platform, IPPIS, they would sit down together.
“The Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education would also be part of that tripartite. Sit down and make arrangements to include all those things that are required by ASUU in the IPPIS platform.
A Ray of hope was shone in the light of the strike as Gbajabiamila assured that in no time, the strike will be called off. He stated that what is left is to put it on paper.
Gbajabiamila said, “I believe we have covered ground and covered most of the thorny issues. What we have agreed with ASUU is basically to put everything on paper and sign off.
“I believe if we had met yesterday and the papers had been drawn up, ASUU, I am sure, would have called off the strike today.
“But we only just met behind closed doors now, and so we have to draw up the agreement as I have stated to you.
“Hopefully in the next couple of days, of course, ASUU has to get back to its bases as well. Once that is agreed, I am very hopeful and very excited about the possibility or probability the strike would be called off in a matter of days.”
On this note, the speaker said he believed that both parties had “concluded positively,” noting that it was “for the sake of our students and children.” He said, “I hope it would be a thing of the past.”
Following the above statements, Osodeke said the leadership of the union would go back to its chapters for consultation.
“We have met briefly in the Speaker’s office and looked at all the issues. He has briefed us. We have taken note of what they have covered. As you know, in my union, we operate bottom-up; we don’t take decisions on their behalf without taking their consent.”
While disclosing the outcome of the closed-door meeting, Osodeke said, “We have agreed that between now and tomorrow, we are going to get some documentation signed that we can take to our members.
“We will do that as quickly as possible in the interest of all of us, Nigerians and the students, so that this thing can be resolved as quickly as possible,” he assured.
See Also: ASUU Holds Meeting, To Decide Way Forward
The ASUU President expressed optimism at the outcome of the meeting that the strike will be called off.
He said, “From what we have seen today, for the first time since our action started, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, because this is the first time we are having such thing as an attempt by anybody or group to create something that will also make us not run into anything again.
“We do hope that this will be the final in the interest of our children.
“Thank God the National Assembly are joining us – it’s for the educational system in Nigeria. We want to have a university in Nigeria where we should be earning money from students all over the world and paying in hard currency as we are paying (overseas) so that our system will grow.
“That is why we are in this struggle. We want to have a university where the remuneration is enough to attract lecturers from all over the world, just as our people are going outside.
On another hand, he lamented about unqualified manpower to run the newly established universities, emphasising the need to really improve the educational system.
Osodeke added, “As we speak today, we are having problems but we have not noticed it. We are creating so many universities but there are no qualified people to teach in those universities because the good ones are leaving.
“We just put people there, which is not good enough. We must create the environment. We are the Giant of Africa and we must act as the Giant of Africa. We should have people coming in – in droves – not people leaving. That is why we are here.”
Osodeke, thanked the Speaker for his resilience and intervention while urging the lawmakers to work with the union
He said, “Let us put a beautiful end to this thing we have started so that every Nigerian will be proud that we have universities we can be proud of.”
Finally, the ASUU President expressed his gratitude to Buhari for his intervention hoping that such educational strike action will not surface in the history of Nigeria again.
He added that no strike should be left to linger for more than two days.
According to the ASUU President, “We also extend our appreciation to the President for intervening. We do hope that this is the last one. I want to appeal that in the future, we should not allow strike to linger. A strike should not go beyond two days.
“The way the National Assembly has intervened; if we had done that long ago, from the beginning, to be allowed to do that all along, or those in charge of Labour and Education had done exactly this, we would not be where we are today. We would not have stayed more than two or three weeks in this strike.”
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