Senate moves to avert ASUU strike

The Senate on Tuesday pledged to engage relevant stakeholders to avert the warning strike being planned by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
ASUU had on Monday announced plans to embark on a one-week warning strike over the inability of government to implement agreements reached with it since 2009.
The move by the Senate to intervene in the matter followed a motion moved by Senator Jibrin Barau under matters of urgent national importance.
The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, urged the chamber to intervene and ensure that the eight-year agreement was fully implemented.
Saraki said: “We must find a way of seeing to the implementation and we will look into the matter quickly.
“We will also get the relevant parties to quickly come to the table so that we can find a way of moving forward and report back to us.”
While reading the motion, Senator Barau, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TetFund, urged government to implement all agreements.
He also urged government to as well carry out certain actions that were necessary for the wellbeing of the development of Nigerian public universities.
The lawmaker, however, commended ASUU for choosing the path of dialogue rather than confrontation as a means of resolving all the outstanding issues between it and the Federal Government.
In his contribution, Senator Danjuma Goje noted that the history of strike in the country was a recurring decimal.
Goje said: “It is a disturbing issue to parents and students. There is need to nip it in the bud. We should not allow it to escalate.”
Goje said the motion was apt and and called on the senate to engage the leadership of ASUU in order to suspend its planned warning strike.
The Majority Leader, Senator Mohammed Ndume, described the senate as a stabilising agent and called for the immediate intervention of the senate leadership in the matter.