FG, ASUU resume re-negotiation on 2009 agreement

The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have begun fresh re-negotiations on the 2009 agreement.

Dr Wale Babalakin, the Chairman, Federal Government re-negotiation team, who addressed newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday, after a meeting that lasted six hours, said he was hopeful the meeting would yield positive results.

Babalakin disclosed that the ASUU team had presented more than 20 issues that were being looked into to ensure stability in the university system.

He said that both sides were determined to put an end to the lingering problems in the system.

“We resumed our renegotiation today. The government team and ASUU were appropriately represented and we had positive discussions.

“We are actually hopeful that we are on a positive path to finalising the negotiation.

“There were very hectic discussions on topical issues and both sides had extensive contributions for the benefit of the university system.

“It is the same negotiation, we had interim discussion, that is over now and we are back to where we left off. So it is a continuous negotiation.

“ASUU submitted its timetable today and there are more than 20 issues in that timetable, it is not a single issue, but they will all be discussed,’’ Babalakin said.

Our correspondent reports that the representative of ASUU, however, declined comments at the end of the meeting.