ASUU Strike: Ngige Speaks On Union Agreement To End Strike Today

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has called out the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) for misrepresenting some of the agreements reached to call off the strike before December 9, 2020.

AllNews understands that this is following the claim made by the President of the union, Biodun Ogunyemi, that the government had failed to deliver on offers made to the union and that university teachers cannot return to classes on an “empty stomach.”

Dismissing the claims by ASUU, Ngige said that while it is true that some of the offers made to ASUU have timelines, the same timelines have faithfully been complied with.

READ ALSO: ASUU Zones Divided Over Calling Off Strike

The Minister said, “The truth of the matter is that a ‘Gentleman Agreement’ was reached at the last meeting in which ASUU agreed to call off the strike before December 9, 2020, and the Minister, in turn, agreed that once the strike is called off, he would get a presidential waiver for ASSU to be paid the remainder of their salaries on or before December 9, 2020.”

This was contained in a statement from Ngige's media office, titled, ‘We have kept our promises to ASUU – FG.’

Ngige said it was false and discomfiting for ASUU to wrongly inform the public that the government agreed to pay all withheld salaries before it would resume work, stressing that the timelines attached to the various offers made to the union had been complied with.

“The N40b Earned Academic Allowances have also been processed just as the N30bn revitalization funds, bringing it to N70bn. Likewise, the visitation panels for the universities have been approved by the President but the panel cannot perform its responsibilities until the shut universities are re-opened.

“The gazetting is also being rounded off at the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation while the Ministry of Education is ready to inaugurate the various visitation panels,” the minister added.

He further disclosed that “they were paid for February and March, after which it was extended to April, May, and June, months they were on strike on compassionate ground, bringing it to five months.”