President Muhammadu has set up a committee to finally resolve the lingering strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Adamu Adamu, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, announced in Abuja that the committee comprises four Pro-Chancellors and four Vice Chancellors.
He said the committee would look at the No work, no pay and remuneration of the university lecturers.
The Minister who would serve as the committee chairman hinted that he would brief President Buhari about the outcome of the committee’s work.
He spoke at the meeting with Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities at the National Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters.
On February 14, ASUU declared a one-month warning strike that escalated into a full-blown strike.
The strike, which has kept public universities shut and academic activities grounded with students and Nigerians bewildered, is in its sixth month, with no end.
The strike by the union entered its 204th day.
Some of the union’s demands included: funding for the revitalisation of public universities; payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA)/Earned Allowances (EA); payment of salary shortfalls; stopping the proliferation of state universities by governors; setting up of Visitation Panels.
Others are: renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement; adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a payment platform for university lecturers; and payment of withheld salaries and non-remittance of check-off dues.
