Battle between FG, varsity workers to end today

Soji-Eze Fagbemi, Abuja - 05.11.2009

The protracted battle between the Federal Government and the university workers may end today, as the final agreement between the two parties on the crisis affecting the university system is expected be signed this morning.

However, the Federal Government has bowed to some of the vital demands of the workers in the interest of peace in the university, as the government has removed the disparity that existed in the salary increment approved for the non- teaching staff of the universities and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The Federal Government had earlier approved a 40 per cent increase in the salary of the ASUU members, while it only approved 20 per cent for the members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff of Universities (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) who are non-teaching staff of universities.

The meeting between the three unions ended in a deadlock on Monday, when the government team led by Deacon Gamaliel Onosode disownded the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier signed between the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu and the unions, saying he was not a party to it.

The unions and the government team left the meeting without any agreement and at that point, the unions resolved to resume their suspended strike immediately and slated a world press conference to be addressed on Tuesday for the commencement of the strike on Wednesday (yesterday).

But in a swift reaction, the government summoned the unions on Tuesday morning for another emergency meeting, which lasted till Mid-night on Tuesday.

However, a source at the meeting said the Federal Government has accepted virtually all their demands, adding that while the issue of 65 years retirement age for their members had been agreed upon and accepted, the government had also approved the same percentage of salary increase it approved for lecturers for their members.