Leadership (Abuja)
Stella Eze And John Moses
6 November 2009
Abuja — The Federal Government yesterday signed agreements with the three non-academic unions of the nation's universities following satisfactory resolution of the contentious issues.
Apart from demanding a better remuneration, the unions also asked for a retirement age of 65 years for its members.
The unions which include the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), and National Association of Nigeria Universities (NASU) have, however, suspended their industrial action indefinitely, following the successful signing of the agreement document by the representatives of the union and federal government.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, however, declared the negotiation team was dissolved shortly after the signing, but said the focus now would be to constitute the Agreement Implementation Panel to ensure that every detail was implemented to the letter.
He expressed gratitude to all involved in the process of arriving at a peaceful resolution of the crises in the university system, saying no tangible development could be achieved with out industrial harmony. "I am glad all the knotty issues have been taken care of", he said. "Apart from the signing and the benefit from it, we are now going to enter a critical stage of achieving what education has for us. We should now be measuring ourselves with universities in the United States and the United Kingdom, not with universities in Africa.
"I will immediately constitute the implementation panel to ensure every thing is implemented to the letter. With this, we won't have strikes anymore. We will have a national summit on university education in Nigeria to ensure there won't be anymore strikes in the system."
Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors, Dr. Babalakin, speaking at the ceremony, congratulated both teams for exhibiting maturity throughout the process that led to a comprehensive resolution of the conflicts.
He was optimistic that the system would have a new lease of life, and that by next year, the score card would be an excellent result, with commitment from the government and the unions," he said.
The unions chanted solidarity songs, expressing their happiness at the outcome of their struggle.
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