Buhari removes Ngige from negotiation talks as ASUU says strike can be resolved in two days

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to hands off negotiations with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universites (ASUU).

The President who gave the directive during a briefing by the heads of the various concerned ministries, departments and agencies of government on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Abuja, also okayed the suggestion by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to take over the negotiations.

Adamu was said to have complained to the gathering the reason behind his prolonged silence on the matter, saying his labour and employment counterpart had since 2016 argued “that only the labour ministry has the mandate to negotiate with striking workers unions in Nigeria.”

ASUU has also blamed Ngige for allegedly complicating the crisis and making resolution difficult.

However, Buhari at the meeting directed the education minister to proffer a solution to the continued industrial action by the lecturers and report back to him in two weeks.

Recall, ASUU embarked on an initial four-week strike on February 14 but has continued to extend the strike as the union and the Nigerian government have failed to reach an agreement.

The university teachers are requesting the implementation of the renegotiated 2009 agreement that contains its members’ conditions of service as well as the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) to replace the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) currently in use.

ASUU alleged irregularities in the IPPIS, adding that the salary payment platform has stripped universities of their autonomy.

Meanwhile, hours after the president gave the ultimatum for the strike to be resolved, ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke has the two-week ultimatum issued by the President to resolve the concerns raised by the union is too much.

The union president stated this stated this in Abuja when he appeared as a guest on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“Two weeks is too long,” he said. “The issue of renegotiation has been completed by both sides. Just come back to us and say ‘we have agreed’, that will not take two days. We were told they spent billions to feed children in school; is that correct, how many children have you seen being fed?

“Nigerians spend not less than N200 billion as school fees paid to Ghanaian universities every year. Government should prioritise education as number one in the country because all of us must pass through the school.”

While the ASUU president sees the President’s action as a welcome development, he is of the opinion that giving such a directive is not new.

He believes the government is still unserious with the lingering strike by the university lecturers, stressing that it does not require such a long timeframe to resolve the issues.

Professor Osodeke recalled the intervention of religious leaders in the crisis under the auspices of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) who met with the President over the matter.

Following the meeting in February, he explained that President Buhari set up a three-man committee comprising his Chief of Staff, Ngige, and Adamu, to quickly resolve the issue within one month.

“That committee didn’t invite us for a meeting until we rolled over the strike in May and we all went. Now another 12 days? If we are serious, if we really want to resolve this problem, it will not take two days.

“All issues have been discussed, government representatives have met with ASUU, and there is a draft joint agreement to look at and come back for the signature. Does it take you two weeks to look at what you have negotiated?” the ASUU president queried.