ASUU Strike: President Goodluck Jonathan holds crucial meeting with Gov Suswam and Ministers

President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday met for about two hours with the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, and some ministers over the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Ministers at the meeting included those of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa'i, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and his Labour and Productivity counterpart, Chief Emeka Wogu.

At the end of the meeting, no official statement was released, but Rufa'i, who appealed to ASUU to call off the strike, said the federal government was on course in its negotiation with the union.

She said: "I have not been mandated to speak to journalists on the matter but I can tell you that we are on course. I will only appeal to ASUU to call off the strike in the interest of the nation."

Suswam, Okonjo-Iweala and Wogu did not speak with journalists, who were waiting patiently for the meeting to end.

Meanwhile, ASUU on Monday foreclosed an early resolution of the industrial crisis rocking the nation’s university system as the union insisted that it would not call of its industrial action until all its demands were met by the Federal Government.

The President of ASUU, Nasir Fagge, insisted that the union was resolute in sustaining the ongoing strike action to ensure that the topical issues affecting the nation’s university system tackled decisively once and for all.

He said it was inconceivable for the union to call of the strike without achieving the objectives of the action only to call another one later.

The ASUU President, who made the comment while speak with journalists at the Benue State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, said the union decided to continue with the strike because of the failure of the government to address the issues raised after previous industrial actions were called off.

 
 
Hope this meeting did not end in deadlock like the previous ones?! Why toy with the affairs of the future of our dear country?!