As The industrial action declared by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, enters its fifth day Friday, the federal government has begged the striking unions to suspend the action.

The government said its appeal was predicated on the fact that efforts were ongoing to address the grey areas that led the unions to the strike.
Government’s appeal was conveyed through the outgoing Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, at a meeting, Thursday,with the leadership of the striking unions.
Sununu was mandated by the new Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alaussa to chair the meeting.

Recall that public universities across the country, were on Monday shut by SSANU and NASU following an indefinite strike by the two unions to protest failure of the government to pay them four months of their salaries that were withheld during the 2022 strike by university workers.

But the minister said government was taking a holistic approach to the matter and discussions have reached an advanced stage to meet their demands.

Dr. Sununu gave assurances that the government was committed to a stable educational system and finding a lasting solution to the lingering crisis.
He said:”We have just had a meeting under the directive of the Minister of Education, Who along the line joined us virtually, in order to address the ongoing strike commenced by the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU.

“We have reviewed the reasons for the strike and we briefed them on the efforts of the Federation Ministry of Education to get the issues resolved, where we are now and we holistically looked at it, then add other issues that are likely to erupt so that the Ministry can take a holistic approach on all issues.

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“At the end of the meeting, we all agreed that we have reached the advanced stage of addressing the situation and we will continue to work together for the strike to be brought to an end as soon as possible.

“We are all happy with where we have reached in our discussion. We have also pleaded with them that in the last one year, they gave us their maximum cooperation in ensuring that we have stability in our academic sessions. “

He tasked members of the unions to extend the same goodwill to the in-coming Ministers that would join the Ministry as soon as possible, in ensuring that the renewed hope of the President for every child to be given qualitative education, armed with skills and competencies is achieved.

On his part, chairman, Joint Action Committee of the NASU and SSANU, Comrade Hassan Makolo, however, said the leadership of the unions would call off the strike action when members confirmed they have received alerts.

He said the meeting was productive and expressed the belief that the assurances by the government delegation were fulfilled
He said:”We had frank discussion on the issues at stake and as we always say that the JAC of NASU and SSANU is not strike monger. There are issues that always lead to strike.

“Apart from the current strike, we have been able to discuss number of issues that could crop up tomorrow and you say JAC again. For the issues that members of JAC are on strike, we have come to understanding that within some hours, if all we discussed here go well, the strike will be called off.

“What do we mean by go well? By the time our members begin to tell us they have received alerts, then we have come to the end of the struggle in our hands. I want to believe that we do not need to come back here to agitate for the same issue. “