The federal government has postponed a meeting earlier scheduled for Wednesday with the leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in order to iron out some grey areas that had prolonged the strike embarked upon by the union.
The nine-month-old strike, which was compounded by the introduction of the controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), had paralysed academic activities in all public universities.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, who disclosed the postponement via a short message sent to our correspondent, did not state why the meeting was postponed.
Akpan wrote: “The Meeting between ASUU and the Federal Government earlier scheduled for today by 3pm has been postponed. Thank you for your understanding.”
But it was gathered that the leadership of ASUU turned government’s invitation to the meeting following the labour minister’s accusation that the union failed to honour “gentleman agreement” reached at the last meeting that held November 27.
Ngige had on Wednesday a statement through his media office described ASUU’s claim that federal government had failed to deliver on the timelines on offers made to the union, as “false and discomfiting”.
“It is false and discomfiting for ASUU to wrongly inform the public that the government agreed to pay all withheld salaries before it would resume work,” Ngige said.
President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi was yet to respond to calls and a text message to his mobile phone as at when filing this report.
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