By Ismail Auwal
A special delegation of Pro chancellors of the Nigerian public universities has met with President Muhammadu Buhari and begged him to rescind the prevailing policy of no work, no pay invoked against the striking lectures under the auspice of Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU).
The delegation, while commending the president for the offer to raise the salaries of ASUU members by 23.5% and 35%, pleased for further upward review of the salary in view of the staggering inflation in the country.
In his response, President Buhari promised to make further consultations with relevant stakeholders in order to find a way of ending the ASUU strike.
Buhari spoke on Friday during a meeting with the committee of pro-chancellors of federal universities, at the State House in Abuja.
According to a statement by the presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, the pro-chancellors were led to the meeting by Nimi Briggs, Chairman of the ASUU/federal government negotiation team.
Briggs was quoted as saying they came to meet with Buhari in his capacity “as president and commander-in-chief, as father of the nation, and as a visitor to the federal universities”.
He added that despite the impact of the months of industrial action, “the future of the university system in the country is good”.
He cited the recent listing of the University of Ibadan among the first 1,000 universities in the world as “a development occurring for the first time”.
Briggs also commended the federal government for concessions already made to the striking lecturers, including the offer to raise salaries by 23.5 percent across board, and 35 percent for professors.
He, however, asked for “further inching up the salary, in view of the economic situation of the country”.
The pro-chancellors also asked for the reconsideration of the ‘no work, no pay’ stance of the federal government.
They promised that lecturers would make up for time lost as soon as an amicable situation is reached, and schools are reopened.
On his part, Goodluck Opiah, minister of state for education, said all the concessions made by the federal government were to ensure that “the industrial action comes to an end, but ASUU has remained adamant”.
On Thursday, ASUU had said it is ready to suspend the ongoing strike if the federal government shows willingness to accept “its minimum demands”.
