FG pays N200bn, end of ASUU strike in sight

 The federal government has documented an agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) after the confirmation of the payment as earlier stipulated. This is coming as hope has risen for students to return to class rooms, invariably by January 2013.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is to end the strike that has crippled the country’s public universities since July 1, 2013. However, the reported new idea came 24 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed that a sum of N200 billion agreed has been paid into the appropriate ‘infrastructure’ account.
DigitalSENSE Campus Pavilion reports that a few weeks ago, President of the TUC Comrade Kaigama Bobboi revealed this in a chat in Abuja, where he explained that the current stalemate in negotiations was a result of a “communication problem.”
However, special Assistant on Media to the President, Dr Doyin Okupe recently said he has personally seen the bank balance confirming the payment of the N200 billion promised by the federal government to the universities.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, he said: “I can confirm to you that it contains the requisite amount and disbursement will commence as soon as ongoing administrative processes are sorted out.”
Okupe who brandished documents to confirm that the revitalization of Universities Infrastructure Account was duly opened and credited with the N200 billion insisted that government had fulfilled its own part of the bargain with ASUU hence the need for them to resume work without further delay.
Both the TUC and the NLC facilitated the meeting of ASUU leadership and President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House last month but the lecturers and the presidency have engaged on blame game on why the strike has not ended ever since.
The TUC president Kaigama said a fresh meeting would be facilitated before the deadline issued by government to lecturers to return to class.
He said: “I see it from the perspective of a little break in communication because all they are saying are one and the same thing. You want an agreement signed, and you also want lecturers to go back to work. Yes, sit down, write and sign the agreement and the problem is sorted out. I don’t believe in the two sides making too much noise about it.”
“Me and the NLC president have to mediate and pull the two parties together to sign. In fact by the time the two parties sit, within three hours, the issues would be resolved. We are working on that together with the NLC and I am pretty sure sooner than later, we will get over it,” he said.


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