The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has failed to reply to inquiries by The PUNCH on the plans by the Federal Government to end the ongoing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The PUNCH reports that Ngige, who has been at the front of negotiations between the striking university lecturers has always described himself as the reconciliatory minister between trade unions and their employer ministries.
ASUU had on Monday, February 14, 2022, embarked on industrial action over the alleged failure of the government to attend to its lingering demands.
Some of the demands include the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers, the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to universities among others.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday told the striking lecturers to consider the future generation and suspend the ongoing strike, saying enough was enough.
A move which the striking lecturers described as being psychological.
However, The PUNCH reached out to Ngige who failed to pick his calls and reply to messages sent to him by our correspondent.
The PUNCH reports that the strike which started on February 14, 2022 entered its 148th day today.
Like the strike which occurred in 2020, which happened to be the longest strike in the history of Nigerian universities, academic activities in tertiary institutions have been shut down.
Contact: theeditor[at]punchng.com
