LAGOS NOVEMBER 5TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The meeting between the Federal Government of Nigeria and striking University lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has ended in a stalemate.
The meeting began at 2:40pm on Monday and ended at 3:30am Tuesday with either side of the negotiating team not yielding grounds sufficient enough to re-open the Nation’s Universities which have remained under lock and key for five months and running.
Our correspondent in the Capital City of Abuja who kept vigil outside the Villa alongside other newsmen, reports that the Representatives of ASUU to the dialogue with the Federal Government avoided the press as they exited the First Lady’s Conference Room in the State House, where the 13 hour long meeting was held.
One of the representatives of the University Union told Ekekeee; “Nothing concrete was agreed. Same old story. We’ll report back to our State Chapters and members and decide our next line of action”.
The representatives of the Federal Government led by President Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim and the Chief of Staff to the President, Mike Oghiadome, also kept mum and wore long faces as they filed out of the building–an indication that there is no end in sight to the lingering impasse at the moment.
The University lecturers are asking the Federal Government to honour an agreement it freely entered into with ASUU in 2009 (implementation of the 2009 agreement, the 2012 MoU and the recommendations of the Needs Assessment Report) before they can make a return to the classrooms.
Source:Ekekee