The Tuesday’s meeting between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ended in deadlock as lecturers staged a walkout.
The meeting which took place at the National Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters in Abuja between the representatives of the union and a federal government renegotiation committee led by Prof. Nimi Briggs ended with parties failing to reach an agreement on how to end the six-month-old strike.
ASUU had earlier hinted that the strike would be immediately called off if an agreement is reached at the meeting.
The ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who spoke to newsmen, late Tuesday, in an interview said, ‘‘It wasn’t good,” referring to the meeting.
“We didn’t sign anything; they did not come with anything good. I can’t go into details. We will talk to our members first before we talk to the press. We represent our members.’’
ASUU embarked on a 30-day warning strike on February 14 over the federal government’s failure to honour the agreement signed by both parties.
The union’s demands include reviewing the lecturers’ condition of service every five years, revitalisation of public universities, and adoption of University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as an alternative to the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) for payment of members’ salaries, among others.
ASUU extended the strike for another 30 days last week, the fourth since the industrial action began six months ago.
