The meeting between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has again ended with the lecturers asking the government to act on its demands.
The Federal Government fixed a timeline of six weeks for the new committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Education to round off everything on the conditions of service for the university lecturers.
President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, at the resumed meeting with Federal Government team on Tuesday in Abuja, said all ASUU members, students and Nigerians wanted to see was action from the government.
The ASUU leader said its members want to see the federal government release money for revitalisation, pay the earned academic allowances, put a stop to proliferation of universities among others.
He said the money that ought to have been used to fund education was being lost to other countries.
The ASUU leader called for a declaration of emergency in the sector to solve the problem.
Prof Osodeke: “The education sector in Nigeria is in crisis and money is being lost in the primary, secondary and tertiary education levels.”
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige at the end of the marathon meeting on Tuesday night, expressed hope that ASUU would call off its ongoing four-week warning strike this week.
Ngige told reporters that the meeting agreed on many things and put timelines for the implementation of the agreements.
The Minister said ASUU agreed to go back to its members with the government offers and report back to him before the end of the week.
He said that many of the items in the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA) had been dealt with exhaustively while some were being addressed.