With a view to resolving the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) dispute, Speaker of the House of Representatives Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has invited certain key government officials to a meeting.
The house leadership and ASUU met in private for five hours on Tuesday in Abuja, and Gbajabiamila announced it.
The Account General of the Federation, the Auditor General of the Federation, the Director General of the National Information Development Agency (NITDA), and his counterpart from the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission are among those who have been invited.
He said that the government officials are to appear on Thursday, September 22 to finalise negotiations for the onward presentation of the agreement to President Muhammadu Buhari for approval and implementation.
The speaker said that meaningful progress had been made, saying that the house was out to interface directly with ASUU as an independent arm of government to find out what solution can be offered.
“Based on our deliberations, we are very hopeful that there is light at the end of the tunnel and we thank ASUU for making this time out for the interest of our students.
“There are principally seven areas ASUU has put forward as conditions for them to go back to class and we have looked at those areas and agreed on certain things.
“In pursuance to finalise the meeting, we have asked that NITDA, Account General of the Federation, Auditor General of the Federation, Salaries and Wages Commission be invited to meet with the leadership on Thursday.
“Once that is done, the leadership of this house will await the return of President Muhammadu Buhari from the ongoing United Nations General Assembly.
“We will meet with Mr President and lay before him the agreements we have reached and we are hopeful that Mr President will buy into the agreement and with that, this matter will be speedily brought to a close,” he said.
In his remarks, the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, appreciated the speaker for intervening in the ongoing strike.
He described the interventions as a good development, saying that the union will wait for the outcome of the meeting with the top government functionaries.
Osodeke said that following the impact of the meeting held with the speaker, he was hopeful that within the immediate future, the issues will be resolved.