The Federal government, on Wednesday, assured that the disagreement it has with the public university teachers, which led to a strike that is 17 weeks old now, will soon end.
Due to the ray of hope the government gave, it said that the university workers’ unions will soon resolve disputes and academic activities resume in earnest.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since February 14 leading to the shutdown of about 90 public universities nationwide.
Based on this move, the government has summoned all the relevant agencies including the National Information Development Agency (NITDA) to brief it on the success so far in resolving the contentious issues that led to the strike by the four university based unions.
Other university workers unions on strike include the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), joined in the strike over the inability of the government to address their concerns.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who disclosed this after the Federal Executive Council meeting, said the government is interested in seeing the students back in school.
He told State House correspondents that the meeting on Thursday is expected to look at the progress report by the relevant bodies handling the crisis including NITDA on how far it has gone with the integrity test on the University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS), which was proposed as an alternative platform by ASUU and the University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System, U3PS, proposed by SSANU and NASU.
Ngige said he is waiting for the report of the Tripartite Plus Committee comprising the Ministry of Education, the Chief of Staff, Salaries and Wages Income Commission, the National University Commission, NUC as well as the striking unions.