Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila yesterday raised hope that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would soon be over.
Gbajabiamila gave the clue after meeting behind closed doors with ASUU leadership and Minister of State for Education Goodluck Opiah in Abuja.
Note that before the closed-door session, the Speaker urged the Federal Government and ASUU to make concessions on the contentious issues that have prolonged the strike.
After he meets with the ASUU team, led by Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, and Minister Appiah, the Speaker said the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Accountant-General of the Federation, Aghughu Arhotomhenla; Acting Auditor–General of the Federation Sylva Okolieaboh and the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission would appear before the House tomorrow over the matter.
He said: “We have been here for hours now, deliberating on issues regarding the ongoing ASUU strike. We have covered good ground. Let me just put it that way we have made very good progress.
“As I said earlier, ours is to interface directly with ASUU as an independent arm of government to find out exactly the details and how solutions can be offered like they said two heads are better than one.
“We are hopeful and believe that Mr. President, when he returns from the ongoing United Nations General Assembly will buy into our agreement and with that, I believe this matter will be speedily brought to a close.”
