A committee set up by Nigeria's Education Minister Tahir Mamman will meet representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday to address issues fuelling the union's threat of another strike.
The planned meeting is part of the government's efforts to prevent a strike by teachers at public universities.
ASUU Vice President Chris Piwuna, a professor, revealed this to our reporter on Monday.
He said the union met with the government last week to discuss pertinent issues. He added that some ASUU members will meet with the committee to address certain grey areas, noting that the meeting will not be between Mamman and the ASUU leadership but with selected members to interact with the committee set up by the minister.
“As our president informed us, we had a meeting with the government last week and we heard what the government has done. But there are areas that need to be looked at and that is where we hope this committee will clarify,” he said in a telephone interview.
Mr Piwuna did not provide details on the committee's work, saying: “It would be better if the work of that committee was concluded, maybe the president can speak about them.”
Background
Mr Mamman, a teacher, set up the committee after his first meeting with ASUU following a 21-day strike notice issued by the union last month.
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Following the meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) at the University of Ibadan on August 18, ASUU called on governments to address all “outstanding issues” hindering the development of universities in the country, prompting its extended strike in 2022.
The union rejected what it called the “slow pace of intervention” by the Education Minister to resolve the issues which include the review and signing of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement.
The union is also protesting the continued use of a centralised payment platform, the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), for the payment of its members' salaries.
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Although Mr Mamman said in December that the university had been banned from the payment platform, ASUU insists that its members are still receiving payments with what it described as 'News IPPIS', which it said is the same as the platform it rejected.
After the initial meeting, Education Ministry spokesperson Folasade Boriowo told PREMIUM TIMES that the strike had been averted as both sides met again on September 6 to continue the negotiation.