Nigerian university students whose academic sessions have been disrupted by an industrial strike action will know their fate today as stakeholders meet.
A crucial National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is going on to decide on offers made by the Federal Government team last week to persuade its striking members to return to work according to Sun News.
Ahead of the NEC meeting, various zones of ASUU had met also to consider the offer as well as inputs from the various branches for presentation to the NEC.
ASUU had embarked on an indefinite strike on August 14, accusing government of failure to redeem the terms of agreement signed in 2009 and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) endorsed by both parties in 2012.
One of the zonal coordinators of ASUU told Saturday Sun: “I must state that the offer from the Federal Government is a far cry from our members’ expectations. Let us see what comes out of this emergency NEC meeting. Many of our members are not happy with the way government is handling our demands. It is up to NEC to take a position on the on-going strike. Our members are prepared for a long strike, but it depends on the government.”
He debunked a claim by the Education Minister that ASUU would call off the strike this week, saying, “we didn’t promise the minister anything. We told the government team that we are going to consult with our members on what government has offered”.
He described the likely outcome of NEC meeting, as 50-50, saying members wanted to see concrete evidence that government was serious about meeting the demands.
The minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu, had, admitted that “government has not fulfilled its part of the bargain, even though we are unhappy that ASUU went on this strike without following due process and giving us good notice. We realised that we promised something and we didn’t fulfill it.