The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will likely call off its six months old strike next week and pave the way for Nigeria’s public universities to reopen next week.

ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, dropped this hint yesterday while addressing newsmen on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the federal government at the Presidential Villa in Abuja to end the strike which started on July 1.

The MoU was on behalf of the Federal Government by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala, while Fagge signed for ASUU, with the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Abdulwaheed Omar as witness.

The MoU was signed in the presence of five Vice Chancellors, Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, and the former Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

Details of the agreement were not disclosed to journalists but ASUU President Fagge said it captured the main areas of the union’s demands, including the deposit of the N200 billion in a dedicated account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the non-victimisation clause.

Fagge assured that National Executive Council of the union would meet within the week to call off the strike as he could not do so unilaterally.

His words: “I thank all stakeholders for ensuring that we come this far. It is important to acknowledge the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan. He made it possible that we could come this far. What we had agreed with Mr. President in that 13 hours meeting had been judiciously documented and our members presumed that it was going to be documented, we wouldn’t have wasted time.

“I do not have the power to call off the strike. It is only our members that can do that. And within one week our members will meet and decide to call off the strike. We have a document here which shows that government is committed. And all the things we demanded for are in the letter. “Our members are intellectuals. Since the signing of the 2009 agreement we (ASUU) have been pursuing government to get that agreement implemented. We succeeded in getting a portion of the agreement implemented and here we are, we have lost time about four years.

“But I think it is never too late to turn a new page and do what is right with our universities. If we ever think that there is no need to fund the university education then we are deceiving ourselves. I am convinced that now that we are willing to turn a new leaf to give our universities the adequate funding so that they can have all it takes within and outside the country then I want to assure you that very soon we will be among the best in the world. The minister has invited us to look at the document and signed it.

“And like Mr. President earlier directed, we will now take this document to our members. And we are confident that our members will do the appropriate thing. I am a father and my children are in Nigerian universities and not in Malaysia, you can investigate. That is why I am also passionate about ensuring that our children get high quality education in Nigeria.

“The struggle that ASUU has put up must be seen in the correct perspective that it is a very selfless struggle because it is a struggle to make sure that universities have a very conducive environment to learn.

“I am very happy that today we are coming to a very good conclusion. Nobody has gone on strike because they just want to go on strike but because of Nigeria.”

Supervising Minister for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, described the occasion as “historic” and his happiest day since assuming the office.

He said: “All contending issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, we are partners in progress and there is no victor no vanquished.

“ASUU has been on strike for over five months on the account of their resolve to bring about new life to all public universities.

“Following the President’s intervention, he held a marathon meeting on December 4, 2013 with the leadership of ASUU and Labour members where residual issues were resolved. Nigerians from all walks of life expressed optimism that the strike would soon be called off. But unfortunately, due to ASUU’s insistence that the Federal Government must take practical steps to show good faith and commitment to the implementation of the agreement, as a responsible and responsive government, we have a duty to restore normalcy to our university system so that our children can resume classes and pursue their educational careers. Consequently, the vice chancellors of federal universities were directed by the pro-chancellors to immediately reopen the universities for academic activities while the minor discrepancies are sorted out.

“Let me emphasise that we appreciate ASUU’s patriotic role and commitment towards ensuring that our universities are well-funded, resourced and run like their counterparts in other parts of the world.”

•Photo shows President Goodluck Jonathan welcoming ASUU leaders to their Nov. 4 meeting in Aso Rock at which the agreement captured in yesterday’s MoU was reached.

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