The two-week window given to Education Minister Adamu Adamu to mediate in the standoff between the Federal Government and university unions will close tomorrow.
Adamu offered to take over the negotiations with the university unions from Labour and Employment Chris Ngige, who, until penultimate week, had been at the forefront of the talks.
President Muhammadu Buhari had instructed the Education minister to revert to him in two weeks after reaching a truce with the striking unions.
The varsity unions – Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff of Universities (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), have been on strike over issues bordering on the welfare of their members.
The minister could not be reached by this reporter yesterday for update.
ASUU President Prof Emmanuel Osodeke told The Nation yesterday that the union was yet to receive official communication from the government.
Osodeke also said the 100 per cent pay rise proposal being mulled by the federal government was yet to be tabled before the union.
Osodeke said: “There has been nothing from the Federal Government since the minister took over. He has not met with us. He still has two days before the two weeks ultimatum ends.”
ASUU called out its members on a one-month strike on February 14, 2022 over the non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with the Federal Government and the insistence of the government on the adoption of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) as payment platform for all federal workers.
The union proposed the United Technical & Allied Services (UTAS) as its preferred alternative platform for the payment of salaries for its members following discrepancies highlighted in the use of IPPIS.
It declared a two-month strike on March 14.
The teachers are on the three-month strike declared by ASUU after the expiration of the two-month warning strike.
The strike entered its 168 day today (Monday, August, 2022).