Goodluck Meets With ASUU Leadership Today

After a four-month stand-off, President Goodluck Jonathan himself will take charge of talks with the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities at a meeting scheduled for today in Abuja.

ASUU hopes that the meeting will break the deadlock over the strike.

The union warned that any proposal by the Government would be based on a clear acceptance of a framework for the implementation of the 2009 agreement, saying that any imposition will not present a solution to the current crisis.

ASUU in a statement by Dr. Uzochukwu Onyebinama, Chairperson ASUU, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike,Abia state, urged the President “to be guided by the principle of honouring agreements in the interest of justice and industrial harmony in the country”.

“As the National leadership of our union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities meet with his Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan, tomorrow 4th November 2013, we hope that the meeting will be a dialogue that will lead to a mutually acceptable fair and far reaching solution within the context of the implementation of the 2009 agreement, the 2012 MOU and the recommendations of the Needs Assessment Report.

“Any proposal by government should be based on a clear acceptance of a framework for the implementation of the 2009 agreement. Any imposition will not present a solution to the current crisis.

“We therefore call on the President and Commander- in- chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be guided by the principle of honouring agreements in the interest of justice and industrial harmony in the country”, the statement said.