FG Offers ASUU N220bn over Five Years to End Strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)
has begun consultations with its members on
whether or not to accept the new offer of a
yearly payment of N220 billion over the next five
years made by the federal government, in
furtherance of the implementation of the 2009
Agreement aimed at ending the four-month
strike by the university teachers.
THISDAY gathered that the federal government
at a marathon meeting with President Goodluck
Jonathan that ended Tuesday, had made the
offer of the annual payment of N220 billion for
five years after the union had insisted on getting
paid N350 billion in 2014 and N400 billion
annually over the next four years.
But the federal government had pleaded with
the union to be reasonable in its demands so
that the universities could be reopened. It also
appealed to ASUU's representatives at the
meeting to take its offer to its members and
gave them one week to thrash it out.

If the federal government's offer is accepted, the
amount will be used for the universities'
infrastructure needs and lecturers' earned
allowances as stipulated under the 2009
Agreement.
Following the N200 billion annual offer made by
the federal government, the union, after the 13-
hour meeting, said it could not take a decision
yet on the proposal until its members had
examined the offer and decided whether to
accept or reject it.
Although none of the parties to the negotiations,
which began on Monday at 2.40 pm and ended
at about 3.30 am yesterday, was willing to
divulge details to reporters who had kept vigil
throughout the meeting, it was gathered that
the concrete annual lump sum of N220 billion
offered by government, raised hopes of an
imminent end to the protracted labour dispute.
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka
Wogu, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
were upbeat yesterday that students who had
been kept home by the strike would soon return
to schools.
Briefing State House reporters yesterday
morning after the marathon meeting, ASUU
President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, said the union would
take the message from Jonathan to its members.
On what the message was all about, he said the
union got a message from the president and
would take it to the members.
He however declined to say what had transpired
at the meeting and whether a truce was reached
or not.
"Well we had a lengthy meeting with Mr.
President, rubbing minds on how best to address
the problem of university education in this
country. And we now have a message from Mr.
President which we are going to take to our
members. And we are expecting that our
members will respond appropriately to the
message of Mr. President," he explained.
When asked for details of the message, Fagge
said: "I can't tell you (reporters). It is not for you.
It is for our members."
He also declined to say if he was satisfied with
the president's offer, adding: "Don't put words
into my mouth. Our members will determine
that."
On whether the union was ready to call off the
strike to allow the resumption of academic
activities in universities, he stressed: "That is up
to our members."
Wogu, also in his interaction with reporters,
expressed optimism that the outcome of the
negotiations with ASUU would lead to the
suspension of the strike.
He said: "We made progress. The president of
ASUU told you (reporters) that they are going
back with a message from the federal
government to their members. And the message
is full of high expectations and hope."
On whether the message was good enough to
make ASUU call off the strike, he said: "That is
why the message is full of high expectations and
hope. So our prayer is that they come back with
a positive outcome.
"They might not even come back to meet us,
they might take decisions there that will meet
your expectations.
"Nigerians should be patient for ASUU to finish
their meetings and come out with a message to
Nigerians."
On whether the government made any fresh
offer to the union, Wogu said: "Well, the offers
we made are the offers they are talking about in
line with the 2009 agreement. The issues that
led to the strike are issues contained in the 2009
Agreement and we did not go beyond the
agreement."
The minister, who also spoke to THISDAY on the
issue yesterday, reiterated his statement that
the marathon meeting focused on the 2009
agreement with the union.
"We believe the presidential intervention has
resolved the logjam. The ball is now in the court
of the union leaders to meet with their members
to convey the outcome of the meeting to their
members.
"We are very optimistic that this will bring about
a positive outcome. Even the ASUU team was
very happy with the deliberations," he said.
The minister however was not categorical on
whether the federal government had accepted
to implement the terms of the 2009 Agreement
to the letter.
The NLC, which was part of the negotiations, also
welcomed the offer made by the federal
government to ASUU.
NLC acting General Secretary, Chris Uyot, who
declined to give any details on what was
discussed, described the proposal as
"acceptable".
But he told THISDAY in a telephone conversation
yesterday that while the federal government's
offer was acceptable to the NLC, suspending the
strike would depend on whether ASUU finds it
acceptable or not.
He added that the acceptability or otherwise of
the offer would be determined after a meeting of
the National Executive Committee (NEC) of
ASUU.
"We held a meeting with the president and
ASUU. Yes, there was an offer, the offer was okay
and acceptable to the NLC but it depends on
ASUU on whether they can accept it. When you
have an offer in a situation of this nature, you
need to put them before your members who
gave you the mandate; you have to get back to
them before taking a decision," he said.
Uyot described the process as a regular feature
of industrial relations' negotiations.
On details of the proposal put on the table by
the federal government, he said: "I cannot reveal
the details of the offer. The offer to ASUU are not
to the NLC, so until ASUU comes out with a
statement, we cannot reveal the details."
Also, the Chairman of ASUU (UniAbuja chapter),
Dr. Clement Chup, said the union's NEC would
reach out to members before taking a decision.
"The meeting has been held. There will be a
briefing at different levels and we will get back to
you all," he said.
He also declined to reveal details of the meeting
or whether the union would accept the new
offer.
"I am sorry, I am not permitted to speak on
whether the offer is acceptable or not, or discuss
the details," he added.
But it was gathered that given the latest
development, ASUU might be more disposed
now to return to the classroom.
A labour analyst who asked not to be named said
it was in the interest of the union to make some
concessions on its demands following the
interventions by the president, after several
interventions by highly-placed individuals and
the National Assembly had failed.
Negotiating teams headed by Vice-President
Namadi Sambo as well as Benue State Governor,
Mr. Gabriel Suswam, who chairs the Needs
Assessment Implementation Committee had
both failed to yield fruit.
"ASUU has to realise that it has no support
among Nigerians, even NANS has condemned
the strike. Nigerians are also unhappy with ASUU
whose demands have been described as
outrageous since the details were revealed," the
analyst said.
Source: THISDAY News

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