The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that talks with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have so far been fruitful, expressing optimism that the ongoing strike\u00a0will soon be called off.<\/p>\n
According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who made thisn disclosure at the weekend, the optimism is predicated on the federal government\u2019s consideration of some of ASUU\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n
The minister said talks with the union have so far been productive and fruitful, adding that the federal government was optimistic that the strike would soon be called off to pave way for students to resume academic activities.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThere are areas that are still outstanding which we are going to address on the 17th. We have the issue of shortfall of salaries, that of some federal university workers. ASUU has given a list to the office of the Accountant General.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe agreed that by Wednesday that the list will be checked to find out really whether those universities were actually paid and they have to be visited and paid the outstanding lecturers there. So, the Accountant General\u2019s office is to come back to us.<\/p>\n
We have also the issue of Earned Academic Allowance and the issue of revitalisation. These are issues of 2009 agreement. We will look into the consideration and we have identified one area of the fund for revitalisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government organs will be contacted and we do expect that we will have some words for ASUU. Same goes for the earned allowances. We will make sure that the issue of the outstanding amounts is handled in a way that all parties will be properly accommodated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ngige revealed that during the talks, the quality of graduates from state-owned universities was brought to focus with a view to upgrading the standard of education in order to meet with global standards.<\/p>\n