The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities was locked last night in a marathon meeting to take a decision on the eight-month-old strike embarked upon by its members.
Expectedly, a stand would be taken on whether to call-off the strike and continue with it.
A member of the ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) told The Nation that the leadership was reviewing the reports from the union’s branches.
As of the time of filing this report, the meeting was still ongoing at ASUU’s University of Abuja National headquarters in the Federal Capital City (FCT).
According to NEC member, majority of the branches of ASUU voted for the suspension of the strike in line with the order of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.
He said that what decision taken by ASUU would would be communicated to the public today at the end of the meeting.
On February 14, teachers in government-run universities began a job boycott to press home its demands.
The university lecturers accused the government of failing to honour the agreement signed in 2020 at the end of their strike that lasted for 10 months.
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After a breakdown in negotiation with the government team, Labour and Employment Minister, Senator Chris Ngige, referred the matter to the National Industrial Court (NIC) for arbitration.
The court ordered the union to immediately resume work, but ASUU, through its lawyers, appealed the ruling.
However, the Appeal Court upheld the ruling of the NIC that directed the university lecturers to resume work.
Also, after a series of meetings with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed hope that the industrial dispute would soon be over.
It was learnt that the Green Chamber leadership persuaded the striking teachers to review their position.
The House leadership went as far as showing Osodeke concrete evidence that the Federal Government plans to spend about N470 billion on public varsities next year.
The estimates include, N300 billion for revitalisation of universities and N170 billion for salary adjustment.