President Muhammadu Buhari met with the Chairman and a few pro-chancellors of federal universities on Friday at State House in Abuja. He pledged to continue consultations with relevant parties in an effort to put an end to the long-running strike by university lecturers, which is being led by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
In a statement provided by his media assistant, Femi Adesina, the President stated, “I will make more consultations, and I’ll come back to you,” without necessarily reversing what is already established policy.
Professor Nimi Briggs escorted the Pro-Chancellors to the meeting and said that they were there to see the President in three different capacities: “as President and Commander-in-Chief, as father of the nation, and as Visitor to the Federal Universities.”
Despite the shadow created by ASUU’s more than seven months of industrial action, he continued, “the future of university system in the country is promising,” offering as an example the University of Ibadan’s recent inclusion in the top 1,000 universities in the world, a first.
Prof. Briggs applauded the Federal Government for the accommodations previously provided to the academics on strike, including the proposal to enhance salaries by a total of 23.5% for all employees and 35% for professors.
However, he requested “further inching up of the salary, in view of the country’s economic circumstances.”
The Pro-Chancellors also requested that the government’s “No-Work, No-Pay” policy be reviewed, assuring the public that lecturers would make up for lost time as soon as an amicable resolution had been achieved and schools had resumed operations.
Goodluck Nana Opiah, the minister of state for education, said that all of the concessions made by the federal government were intended to put a stop to the strike, but ASUU has persisted.