By TUNDE BOLAJI – MINNA
The Federal Government is set to inaugurate a committee to renegotiate the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities tomorrow (Monday).
The committee which will be inaugurated by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu is expected to turn in its report in six weeks from the time of inauguration.
According to reports, the 2009 agreement has become a bone of contention between the two parties.
ASUU had on several occasions accused the Federal Government of failing to implement some of the agreements reached.
In 2009, the government agreed with ASUU that the condition of service of university lecturers would be reviewed every five years.
The condition of service includes the issue of salaries and allowances of the lecturers.
But the education minister has constituted a seven-man committee to look into the agreement.
The committee will be inaugurated on Monday, according to the spokesman for the ministry, Ben Goong.
“The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, will inaugurate a team to renegotiate the agreement the Federal Government reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities in 2009,” Goong stated.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, explained that the committee would be expected to turn in its report in six weeks.
“The committee on renegotiation set up by the Ministry of Education is expected to round off everything on the condition of service and turn in its report in six weeks,” Akpan said.
In the meantime, hundreds of students who are members of the National Association of Nigerian Students has carried out a peaceful protest in an absolute support to the strike action embarked by the Academic Staff Union of Universities in the country.
Students of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai , Federal University of Technology Minna and other institutions blocked the Minna busy city gate in solidarity with members of the ASUU who began a one month warning strike.
The Students in their hundreds were chanting solidarity songs holding placards with inscriptions that reads “Education is our right, Federal Government Settle ASUU and Enough is Enough” among others.
They however described the protest as a warning to the Federal Government and called on the authorities to meet the demands of the lecturers to make learning convenient for them.
President Student Union IBBU Lapai, Jibrin Mohammed and his FUT counterpart, Shuaib Yusuf told our reporters in their separate interview that the students would continue the protest in support of the lecturers stressing that ASUU’s strike in justifiable
