ASUU shuns FG’s inauguration of renegotiation committee

Efforts to woo members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU, back to the negotiating table may have hit a brick wall, as executive members of the striking union failed to take part in the inauguration of the 7-man committee set up by the federal government to renegotiate their existing agreements.

A reporter who was at the inauguration ceremony held at the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja on Monday, observed that it was a one-sided affair as ASUU clearly shunned the event.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu who inaugurated the committee, did so with the presence of the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission NUC, Abubakar Rasheed and members of the renegotiation committee comprising Prof. Emeritus Nimi Briggs, Pro chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo who is serving as chairman

The Minister gave the committee a 3-months timeframe to renegotiate all the previous agreements entered into with ASUU, especially the 2009 pact.

It was earlier gathered that ASUU said they would not be part of any fresh negotiations, especially when the previous ones had not been met.

Although ASUU is still observing its month-long warning strike, part of the conditions that necessitated the strike involves disagreements in the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payrolls and Payment System IPPIS, including the universities revitalization funds which run into several billions of naira.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige who briefed President Muhammadu Buhari about the ongoing strike recently, alleged that ASUU and its members have drawn over N90 billion from the government coffers.

Beyond the battle of wits between the two parties, academic activities in the nation’s universities remain comatose.