ASUU strike: Union rejected food provided by presidency during talks with Jonathan

It has been revealed that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) last week rejected food and drinks offered by the Presidency during a 13-hour meeting between the federal government delegation, led by President Goodluck Jonathan and the ASUU delegation, headed by Dr. Nasir Fagge,

Jonathan had met with the union inside the conference room of the First Lady’s Office at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, to discuss how to resolve the four-month strike which has paralysed university education in the country.

ASUU on July 1, embarked on the action over refusal of the FG to implement the 2009 agreement the two parties signed.

On the federal government delegation, were President Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, Chief of Staff to the President, Mike Oghiadome, Ministers of Education, Finance and Labour, Nyesom Wike, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Emeka Nwogu, respectively and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius Okojie.

 ASUU President, Dr Fagge, led others including President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) 

Abdulwaheed Omar, Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Bobboi Kaigama, former ASUU President Dipo Fasina, Professors Festus Iyayi, Suleman Abdul and Abdullahi Sule-Kano, to the meeting.

It was gathered that throughout the duration of the negotiation, the ASUU delegation had refused to take the refreshments provided by the federal government.

When asked if news of the meal rejection was true, a source close to a member of ASUU team reacted that: “I am aware they only took water, nothing more.”

The source, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in a chat with a source in Lagos said, “First, what our leaders went there to do was to negotiate, not to eat.”

“The appropriate thing was to get themselves refreshed before the meeting which I’m sure they did.

“You can’t go to the house of a man whom you have scores to settle and get too comfortable. That would be wrong,” he added.

At the meeting, the Union leaders had tendered to the FG, facts on its spending in other sectors, while lamenting neglect of Nigerian universities.

Former ASUU president, Sule-Kano, over the weekend disclosed that the Union would take position after local chapters of the union had briefed their respective congresses across the country on Monday.

Commenting on the FG the meeting, he said: “It is our branches that will decide whether there was headway or not. Normally, the principle is to interact with government and report back to the members, to let them decide and make their judgement.”

“We have this axiom which says that ‘you cannot trust government.’ It is very difficult for us to trust government, because their move is very difficult to judge. That is why we go to our members to allow them to look at the issues. How will they interpret them? Will they see them as shortchange? It is very difficult to say that for now.”