Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has expressed optimism that the non-teaching staff members of Nigerian universities will, on Monday, end their week-long strike.
He said this was consequent upon an agreement reached with the Federal Government during their last meeting.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU and Non-Academic Staff Union of the Universities, NASU, under a Joint Action Committee, JAC, had on February 5 embarked on a strike to compel the Federal Government to address their demands.
Issuing a statement on Friday signed by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Charles Akpan, the minister refuted speculations that their last meeting ended in a deadlock.
According to him, the Federal Government had reached an agreement with the leadership of the unions to call of their strike, latest Monday.
Ngige added that the agreements were reached by parties with timelines, which were documented as Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
“The meeting did not end in deadlock. Rather, agreements were reached on some issues with timelines and these were documented as Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and given to leaders of the two unions to go and consult their people with a view to calling off the strike latest by Monday, February 15, 2021,” Ngige said.
He said that five issues discussed had agreements, while only one had a proposal, which was a government proposal for the unions to go back and discuss with their organs.
But the leadership of the striking workers had yet to disclose their stand on the agreement as of the time of filing this report.
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