Nigerian govt adopted voluntary conciliation on ASUU strike – Ngige

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said on Tuesday the Federal Government adopted voluntary conciliation in a bid to ensure quick resolution of the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The minister stated this at a three-day capacity building workshop on International Labour Standards and Dispute Resolution in Nigeria in Abuja.

The varsity lecturers began a 30 days warning strike to protest the federal government’s failure to honour agreements signed by both parties on February 14.

The union extended the strike for another 30 days on Monday.

Ngige said voluntary conciliation was adopted instead of arbitration in order not to delay the process for the resolution of the dispute with the striking lecturers.

He said: “I could have transmitted the matter to the IAP or the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).

“But I used my discretion to weigh the situation to know if it would cause more delay in the resolution of the dispute in a court process.”

READ ALSO: ASUU blames Ngige for prolonged strike, vows not to back down

He recalled that ASUU commenced the strike on February 14 and voluntary conciliation started eight days later.

Ngige added: “By the second meeting, most of the issues arising from the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA) signed between ASUU and the Ministry of Education with other government agencies involved were conciliated leaving out only two.

“The two outstanding issues were the conditions of service, which according to the 2009 Agreement would be reviewed every four years.

“The last review was in 2013 and we started the review in 2018 under Wale Babalakin (SAN) as the chairman of the renegotiation committee. We could not conclude because Babalakin left.

“A new committee headed by Munzali came. Munzali finished his work and put in his report at the Federal Ministry of Education.”

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