The federal government has postponed a meeting earlier scheduled for 3 pm Wednesday with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The meeting was earlier scheduled to iron out some grey areas that had prolonged the strike embarked upon by the union.
However, The spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, who disclosed the postponement, 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 ASUU President, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, said the failure of the meeting was due to the short time frame given to consult the union members.
However, other top sources claimed 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 on 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 is yet to respond to the statement released by Ngige.
