The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige , has expressed optimism that the prolonged strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities will be resolved by next week when the Federal Government team meets the union leaders again .
He , however, said if the matter was not resolved by then , he would explore the provisions in the labour law and other channels. Government had previously appealed to the union to call off the strike .
The union had on March 24 2020 embarked on an indefinite strike over the failure of the Federal Government to keep to the 2019 Memorandum of Action between them as well as the lingering disagreement over the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System that ASUU rejected .
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television on Friday, the minister said the government had met six of the union ’s nine demands and that they would meet again next week with the hope of ending the prolonged strike .
He stated , “ Even if countries go to war , at the end of the day they come to the negotiation table . I ’ m inviting them (ASUU ) next week . We are doing side meetings on our part and we are collating everything. I ’ m collating responses from the Accountant General of the Federation ’ s Office and everybody who has something to do with this matter .
When asked if it meant that the lecturers may not return to the classrooms in the next one or two weeks , he said , “ I ’ m not looking at that (long) period . I ’ m an optimist on this matter . By next week , we will conclude this matter . There are so many options left . We have the labour laws and I have options left to me in the labour laws . I have other channels. ”
