ASUU strike: Senate meeting with union leaders end in deadlock again

Efforts by the Senate to mediate between the federal government and the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) could not yield the desired results on Monday.

Rising from a meeting which lasted for 8 hours, Senate Committee Chairman on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Barau Jibrin said the Senate could not reach compromise on a particular issue, hence the adjournment.

According to him, the Senate and the concerned parties have agreed on almost all the issues raised, except that of the “earned allowances” that needed to be paid the Lecturers.

“We have spent about 8 hours in this very important meeting. We have deliberated and thank God we have dealt with all the issues and agreed with all the issues, except 1.

“We have adjourned to make consultations and every section of this meeting would get back to its domain and report to its constituency what transpired. At a later date, we would reconvened to trash out the remaining issue.

Explaining further on the issue of “earned allowances”, the Senator said “the government, due to the scarcity of funds, proposed certain amount of money but ASUU thought otherwise and said the money is inadequate.”

“They promised to go back and report to their members and make wide consultations and then get back to us.

“We do hope they come back with good news that they have accepted the government’s offer”.

The leadership of ASUU had arrived the National Assembly complex for negotiations with the senate Monday morning but could not agree on certain issues.

They, however, adjourned till 6pm when another session commenced into the night till after 8pm when it was adjourned indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the one week ASUU warning strike ends Tuesday, when it would be expected that the resolutions reached at the senate intervention meetings be implemented by the Federal Government.

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