Strike: Gambari meets ASUU today as students protest at APC secretariat

The Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, will today meet with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and other registered trade unions in Nigerian universities. The meeting, scheduled to be held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, […]

The Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, will today meet with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and other registered trade unions in Nigerian universities.

The meeting, scheduled to be held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, is at the behest of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, over the ongoing strike by the university lecturers.

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ASUU had, on Monday, extended its roll-over strike which started on February 14 by another 12 weeks.

Its demands include the funding of the revitalisation of public universities, the Earned Academic Allowances, the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.

Others are the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement and the inconsistency in Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.

The spokesman of the ministry, Olajide Oshundun, Oshundun said Gambari would chair the meeting.

Yesterday, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) protested at the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja over the ASUU strike.

It urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate those who obtained the N100m APC presidential nomination forms.

NANS Public Relations Officer, Victor Ezenagu, who led the protest, said such huge amounts of money could not be spent on party primaries while students were at home owing to ASUU strike.

Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has said it will no longer sign any Memorandum of Understanding with the government, demanding implementation of past MoUs.

ASUP President, Anderson Ezeibe, told reporters in Abuja yesterday after its National Executive Council meeting that the union would commence a two-week warning strike on Monday to press home their demands.

ASUUP is, among other things, demanding release of the approved N15bn revitalization fund approved for polytechnics 11 months ago.