FG, ASUU Meeting: No Agreement Reached As FG Declares Warning Strike Illegal

 The all-night meeting between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the ongoing warning strike by the latter, seems to have ended on an expected outcome as the government declared the strike illegal.

The federal government also said that the demands presented by ASUU at the meeting were already been addressed since last year.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, who said this earlier on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, described the ongoing strike by the university lecturers as a clear breach of the law, adding that the union did not go through the normal process before embarking on the industrial action.

Ngige also said that ASUU did not give the Federal Government the minimum 14 days strike notice prescribed by the law, prior to the strike.

His words; “I saw their letter in my office on February 18, which is last Friday and as you know, they started their action on Monday, February 14. So, it is a clear breach of labour laws. There are violations.

“If you must notify us of intending strike action, you give us a minimum of 14 days' notice. I pointed out to them that we are a country guided by laws. Nobody is above the law. They should obey it.”

Furthermore, the Minister said the Trade Disputes Act permits him to apprehend the strike and having done so, the industrial action should seize.

He went on to disclose that Tuesday’s meeting discussed and touched on all the 5-point demands of the union and sorted out four of them with timelines for action.

He also stated that the demands were not new areas, but issues have already been addressed by the Federal Government since last year.

“That is why I said we are shocked that they went on this strike. These issues were discussed in November/ December last year, up to the time we paid the monies for the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA). It was done last year. We paid N22.172B. So, they have received the money.
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