The federal government on Saturday, May 16, gave its condition for another round of negotiations with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Speaking to journalists on the possibility of the government coming to terms with ASUU, the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, said that the union must first end its strike action before another meeting.
Ngige mentioned that the government has so far kept to its word by paying the salaries of lecturers who are currently on strike.
The minister stated that it is wrong for lecturers to be on strike at this time when the nation needs them to be embarking on research for the cure of coronavirus.
He said: “It is immoral and despicable for those who should be conducting research as Nigerians for the discovery of new pills and medical equipment that will be used during COVID-19 period to say that they are at home playing Ludo and Draft and other games.”
Earlier, we reported that following the two-week warning strike embarked upon by ASUU, the federal government was holding a crucial meeting with the leadership of the union in Abuja.
ASUU was led by its president, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi to meet the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige in his ministry.
We gathered that the meeting, which is holding at the conference room of the ministry, is chaired by Ngige.
According to the report, others in attendance at the meeting included the accountant-general of the federation, Idris Ahmed; the minister of state for education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed.
The meeting, according to the federal government, was to proffer solutions to the two-week strike embarked on by the university lecturers on Monday, March 9.
The leadership of both sides were expected to make official statements at the end of the meeting.
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