THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the principal officers of the lawmakers deliberating on the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will be meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, October 6, over the issue.
Gbajabiamila said this after an official meeting between the House of Representatives delegates and Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, October 5, 2022.
The ICIR gathered that the principal officers, led by the speaker, met with the president to submit their recommendations on the ongoing ASUU strike.
Gbajabiamila told journalists that the recommendations were reached after several engagements with members of ASUU.
The speaker stressed that Buhari had accepted the recommendations, but there was yet to be a final decision on the matter.
He disclosed that another meeting, which is expected to yield Buhari’s final decision on the ongoing ASUU strike, would take place on Thursday.
He said, “As you know, what is on the front burner today, even beyond politics, is that our universities, our lecturers, and our children are out of school.
“The House of Representatives decided to step in at that point four weeks ago and we’ve had a series of meetings that lasted hours and we’ve been able to get both sides to shift ground to an extent, and that’s what we came to discuss with Mr. President about those recommendations.
“Mr. President, as usual, had a very good listening ear. He took the report of the House, accepted it. We discussed the details of the report at length and he wanted to go through them himself.”
The speaker expressed the hope that the strike would be called off soon, stating that the delegates had “a very good response” from the president.
“We have another meeting on Thursday between our good selves and Mr. President for his final decision. We had a good engagement, with a very positive response.
“He asked us a couple of questions, in some grey areas, which we clarified, and he accepted the reports and wanted a couple of days to go through it.
“We are working and we are hopeful that this strike will soon be a thing of the past. I know once this is agreed upon, the strike will be called off,” he added.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M