President Muhammadu Buhari met with the Chairman and a few pro-chancellors of federal universities on Friday at State House in Abuja.
He pledged to continue consultations with relevant parties in an effort to put an end to the long-running strike by university lecturers, which is being led by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The president said he would make further consultations, and I’ll get back to them.
The Pro-Chancellors who were led to the meeting by Professor Nimi Briggs, said they had come to meet with the President in three capacities: “As President and Commander-in-Chief, as father of the nation, and as Visitor to the Federal universities.”
According to Professor Briggs, despite the pall cast by more than seven months of industrial action, “the future of university system in the country is good,” citing as example the recent listing of the University of Ibadan among the first 1,000 universities in the world, a development occurring for the first time.
He appreciated the Federal Government for concessions already made to the striking lecturers, including the offer to raise salaries by 23.5 per cent across board, and 35 per cent for professors.
He, however, asked for “further inching up of the salary, in view of the economic situation of the country.”
The Pro-Chancellors also urged the government to rethink its policy of “No Work, No Pay,” assuring that professors would make up for lost time as soon as an acceptable resolution was achieved and schools resumed operations.
Goodluck Nana Opiah, the minister of state for education, said that all of the concessions made by the federal government were intended to put a stop to the strike, but ASUU has persisted.