The Federal Government has again assured that the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities would soon come to an end .
The assurances followed the payment of part of the arrears of salaries to the university lecturers in line with the agreement reached with the union .
Some lecturers confirmed that they had been paid two months ’ salary arrears.
Speaking at the meeting with ASUU on Tuesday, the Minister of Labour and Employment , Senator Chris Ngige, assured that the strike would be called off before January 15.
Referring to an ultimatum issued by some students , the minister said the industrial action would be resolved before January 15, noting , however , that he had not received a letter from the students threatening to embark on protests if the strike was not called off.
Ngige said , “ The government would disappoint all those wishing for the protests as all the matters in dispute must have been resolved by January 15.
“ Those who want to use the #EndASUU protest to destroy public and private property or lecturers’ homes will be disappointed.
“ I am optimistic that the meeting will produce the final result that will make everybody happy, ” Ngige said .
Expressing optimism about the meeting, the minister informed ASUU that he had received confirmation from the FG that most of the grey areas had been dealt with .
“ We are hopeful that ASUU will then take the report of what we achieved today to their members . We allow social dialogue in line with ILO conventions for all employers and employee , to guide this meeting, ” he stated .
The ASUU President , Prof Biodun Ogunyemi , said they sympathised with their students who are also their children, adding that “ no amount of sacrifice would be too much to get the matter resolved as long as the government is consistent with its commitments ” .
Ogunyemi said they came for the meeting with all sense of responsibility to resolve the crisis in the interest of the students and their members , who , he said had been starving .
He , however , reiterated that only the National Executive Committee of ASUU could announce the suspension of the strike.
