The meeting between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Thursday ended in a deadlock.
The meeting, held at the Ministry of Labour and Employment office in Abuja over the universities lecturers’ strike since November 5, lasted for about six hours. It had to be adjourned till next week when there was no headway.
The ASUU delegation to the meeting was led by its National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, while the government side had the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono; and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.
Ngige, before the meeting went into a closed door session, told newsmen that “talks with the academic union are coming a bit late because we have been having negotiations on the new minimum wage.
“The government appeals to ASUU to put the interest of the students first because they are at the receiving end of the consideration.”
But Ogunyemi, after the meeting, which lasted from 3pm to 9pm, said the union had put forward its demands and the meeting had been adjourned till next week.
He said: “No date has been fixed for next week but we will communicate the date to you tomorrow (Friday).
“The union was forced to go on strike because our plea for the implementation of the 2017 Memorandum of Action fell on deaf ears.
“Our meeting with the Minister of Education (Adamu Adamu) in May and September 2018 to remind him of the Federal Government’s promises to implement the agreement yielded no result.”