Jonathan meets ASUUtoday, union warnsagainst forceNovember 4, 2013 by Etim Ekpimah6 CommentsPresident Goodluck EbeleJonathan| credits: File copyPRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathanwill meet the leadership of theAcademic Staff Union ofUniversities on Monday (today),apparently with a view to resolvethe Federal Government-ASUUface-off that has left varsitygates shut since July 1.But the union said it had got windof Presidency’s plan to direct thatuniversities be reopened, sayingsuch directive without amicableresolution of the current strikewould deepen the crisis.Chairman of ASUU, University ofUyo chapter, Dr. NwachukwuAnyim, said this in a statement inUyo, Akwa Ibom State, onSunday, saying that the unionleaders were invited by thePresident.Anyim said the invitation byJonathan should ordinarily inspiredhopes that the four-month-oldstrike by the lectures would soonend but that the union needed tobe cautious in its optimism.His statement read, “We areaware that President Jonathanintends to meet with theleadership of ASUU tomorrow,Monday, November 4, 2013, in abid to address the deadlock inthe ongoing strike by themembers of the union.“Ordinarily, the invitation by thePresident to the union would givethe impression that the resolutionof the strike was on the horizon.While we appreciate the presentshow of concern from the highoffice of the Presidency, we are,however, cautious in ouroptimism that the meetingbetween the President of thecountry and the union would yielddesired results.“The apparent lack ofenthusiasm among our membersconcerning the outcome of themeeting is based on government’s lack of commitment towardsthe implementation of the 2009FGN/ASUU Agreement and thememorandum signed with ASUU.While we hope that the FederalGovernment would see reason tofinally resolve the issues incontention, we urge well -meaning Nigerians andstakeholders to persuadegovernment to implement theagreement with the union inorder to save Nigeria’s publicuniversities.”It added, “We have receivedinformation that PresidentJonathan intends to direct thatuniversities should be re-openedimmediately. As a branch, we donot think that such a directivewould resolve the issues at stake. Rather, such a directive woulddeepen the prevailing crisis. Ashow of force by the presidentcould only, at best, result in a “pyrrhic victory.”“We stand on the existingagreement between the unionand the Federal Government.The MoU between governmentand ASUU and also the NEEDSAssessment Report shouldprovide the road map for theresolution of the ongoing strikeby ASUU.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 07:37:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015