Jonathan Meets ASUU Today, Union Warns Against Force

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan will
meet the leadership of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities on
Monday (today), apparently with a
view to resolve the Federal
Government-ASUU face-off that has
left varsity gates shut since July 1.
But the union said it had got wind of
Presidency’s plan to direct that
universities be reopened, saying
such directive without amicable
resolution of the current strike
would deepen the crisis.
Chairman of ASUU, University of Uyo
chapter, Dr. Nwachukwu Anyim, said
this in a statement in Uyo, Akwa
Ibom State, on Sunday, saying that
the union leaders were invited by
the President.
Anyim said the invitation by Jonathan
should ordinarily inspired hopes
that the four-month-old strike by
the lectures would soon end but
that the union needed to be
cautious in its optimism.
His statement read, “We are aware
that President Jonathan intends to
meet with the leadership of ASUU
tomorrow, Monday, November 4,
2013, in a bid to address the
deadlock in the ongoing strike by the
members of the union.
“Ordinarily, the invitation by the
President to the union would give
the impression that the resolution of
the strike was on the horizon. While
we appreciate the present show of
concern from the high office of the
Presidency, we are, however,
cautious in our optimism that the
meeting between the President of
the country and the union would
yield desired results.
“The apparent lack of enthusiasm
among our members concerning the
outcome of the meeting is based on
government’s lack of commitment
towards the implementation of the
2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and the
memorandum signed with ASUU.
While we hope that the Federal
Government would see reason to
finally resolve the issues in
contention, we urge well -meaning
Nigerians and stakeholders to
persuade government to implement
the agreement with the union in
order to save Nigeria’s public
universities.”
It added, “We have received
information that President Jonathan
intends to direct that universities
should be re-opened immediately.
As a branch, we do not think that
such a directive would resolve the
issues at stake. Rather, such a
directive would deepen the
prevailing crisis. A show of force by
the president could only, at best,
result in a “pyrrhic victory.”
“We stand on the existing agreement
between the union and the Federal
Government. The MoU between
government and ASUU and also the
NEEDS Assessment Report should
provide the road map for the
resolution of the ongoing strike by
ASUU.”
Source: www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-
meets-ASUU-today-union-warns-against-
force/

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10