The Federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday finally signed a resolution that will bring to an end the five month old strike by ASUU. ASUU had insisted on signing the resolution which contains the four issues the union had raised before the strike will be suspended.
ASUU had insisted that the resolution reached with President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 be signed before suspending the strike. Issues raised by the Union include the provision of N200 billion revitalization fund for Universities to be deposited with the Central Bank and disbursed to the benefit of the Universities within two weeks and the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement in 2014. A non-victimisation clause is to be included in the final document and a new Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by a representative of the government and a representative of ASUU with the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress as witness.The government appears to have met these conditions.
Supervising Minister of Education, Nyseom Wike spoke during the signing. He said:
“Today, I am very pleased to announce that all contending issues between ASUU and the Federal government have been resolved to the satisfaction of the parties. Let me emphasize that we recognize and appreciate ASUU’s patriotic role and commitment towards ensuring that our Universities are well-funded, resourced and run like their counterparts in other parts of the world. Thus we are all partners in progress and there is no victor, no vanquished.”
NLC PRESIDENT, ABDULWAHEED OMAR commended the President for exercising patience during the stand off. He said:
“I must also commend the President of the Federal Republic because I am sure many people would have told him that why do you waste so much time discussing with them and so on.”
ASUU President, Nasir Fagge, who acknowledged the intervention of the President, says the matter would have been resolved much earlier. For the purpose of allaying any fears, the resilient ASUU leader assured newsmen that all the demands of the Union had been met. In his own words:
“What we had agreed with Mr. President at that 13-hour meeting has been judiciously documented.”
The big question now is when will ASUU call of the strike? On this, the ASUU President said;
“Our members will give us further directives.”
When pushed for a more specific response, the ASUU President replied, “Within the week”.
As Nigerian students brace themselves for the final suspension of the strike, the wish on the mind of many Nigerians is that such a impediment to the academic progress of the Youths never happen again.
G2 RECONCILIATION MEETING
Nigeria’s ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party seems anxious to end the lingering crisis that has created a deep division within its ranks. On Sunday, the party resumes its peace talks with 5 of the Governors who defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Surprising faces at the meeting were the Governor of Kano state, Rabiu Kwakwanso and his counterpart from Sokoto state, Governor Wamakko. Both men were absent in previous parley with President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the conflict but the return of the two men to the PDP negotiation table seems to suggest a thing or two; perhaps a change of heart.
According to Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant to the President, nothing in politics can be taken at face value. He said:
“In politics, there is no permanent friend, no permanent enemy. There are usually a lot of interests and I believe the situation is very fluxed; dialogue and discussion are essential parts of politics.”
The APC flag-bearer in the recently concluded Anambra election, Dr. Chris Ngige said:
“They said they came to see Mr. President to announce to him that they have gone; that is what I heard them say, that they are gone for good.”
Clearly, the love between the PDP and the two Governors may not have withered completely. Time will however tell as to how permanent their journey away from the ruling party is and just how successful their new alignment with the opposition party will be.
