All concerned federal government ministries and agencies will today (Thursday) meet in Abuja in a bid to resolve the lingering areas of disagreement between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the government.

Several branches of ASUU had on Tuesday staged coordinated protests across campuses nationwide to press home long-standing demands from the federal government, warning of an imminent strike if the government failed to meet their demands.

But the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa told THISDAY last night that the Bola Tinubu administration has already resolved a number of the knotty issues it met when it took over the reins of governance, assuring the lecturers that the matter will be settled in a wholesome manner this time around.

In an interview with THISDAY, Alausa noted that he has already called a meeting of several ministries and departments, including that of Finance, Labour and Productivity, Budget Office, Solicitor General, Salaries and Wages Commission, among others, to iron out a counter-proposal to the one presented by the union.

Admitting that the matter has lingered for about 16 years, Alausa noted that this time around, the Tinubu administration will be very meticulous about resolving the pending issues, explaining that when thrashed out the counter-proposal will be handed over to the Yayale Ahmed Committee.

Alausa pointed out that because of the need to solve the problems once and for all, there was no need to be unnecessarily in a hurry, emphasising that part of the first tranche of about N150 billion had already been released by the government.

The education minister wondered why ASUU was protesting when it was aware of its moves to end the prolonged crisis, which first started over 16 years ago.

“Remember, we want to be very meticulous. We want to resolve it. But this agreement has lingered on for 16 years. But I’ve met with them that the government needs to start working on a counter-proposal that we give to the Yayale Ahmed committee. We want to do this in a holistic manner. And it has to take some time.

“This cannot be done in a hurry. Previous agreements were done in a hurry. And that was 16 years ago. President Tinubu had decided to release the first tranche of the N150 billion needs assessment that he promised them.

“It was N1.2 trillion. They only released N200 billion about 10 years ago or 14 years ago. Nothing has happened. So, we’re working comprehensively. The government’s side is meeting at a high level to work on a counter-proposal. A lot of the issues have been resolved already,” Alausa pointed out.

In just two years, the minister explained that Tinubu has resolved a lot of the issues, including earned allowances, which have been paid, as well as post-graduate supervision allowances, assuring that the 25 per cent wage adjustment will be paid as soon as government finances improve.

“I have met severally with ASUU, a lot of these things have already been taken care of by this current government, which include payment of arrears earned allowances, their postgraduate supervision allowance has been resolved, their 25 per cent wage adjustment will be paid as government finances improve.

“The 2009 agreement they reached that has not been implemented in 16 years, this government will work with them to ensure that this is resolved. We are meeting with our technical team to develop a counter-proposal to their own agreement and to present to ASUU.

“We urge them to be patient. We want to resolve this in a wholesome and holistic manner. We will not reach an agreement that we know is not suitable to implement,” the education minister added. (THISDAY, but headline rejigged)