Ray of
hope emerged for embattled students of public-owned universities with
the announcement, yesteday, that the Vice President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, has taken over the headship of the Federal Government team
that will negotiate with the striking Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU).
This is coming two weeks after the
lecturers downed tools and 48 hours after members of non-academic staff
of universities unanimously voted “yes” in a referendum called to
ascertain whether to resume the strike they suspended last January.
Minister of Labour and Employment,
Senator Chris Ngige, who briefed alongside his colleagues in Information
and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola
and Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, after the first
Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu
Buhari since he returned from London where he was for over 100 days for
medical care, said Osinbajo took over some aspects of the negotiations
and would henceforth preside over meetings with the teachers’ union.
According to the labour minister:
“Government is leaving no stone unturned to make sure that we reach a
conclusive agreement with ASUU so that they can go back to the
classroom. This is the first national strike that this government is
facing and we want to discuss.
“At council today, the vice president has
taken over some of the aspects of the negotiations and discussions, so
we are continuing the meeting in his office; and when we finish meeting,
we will get back to ASUU for another round of meeting. We are hopeful
that we will be able to go to an appreciable extent to solve some of the
outstanding issues that is preventing them from going back to work.”
Ngige blamed the private sector for the
delay in announcing the chairman of the Minimum Wage Review Committee.
According to him, the Federal Government will announce chairman of the
Committee when all the names of representatives of the private sector
were received.
“The national minimum wage committee, the
government side is ready. We have on the government side four ministers
– labour and employment, finance, budget and planning. I can’t remember
the last one now but we have our team ready. We also have the Head of
Service of the Federation, acting Secretary to the Government of the
Federation on the government team. The chairman will be unveiled when we
have full component of the committee.”
ASUU, on August 13, began a nationwide
strike over failure of the government to implement an agreement it
reached with the union in 2009.
The union also alleged that the Federal Government did not implement the Memorandum of Understanding both sides signed in 2013.
ASUU, in a statement on Tuesday, said it
would call off its strike after receiving a positive response to its
demands from the Federal Government. But on Tuesday, it boycotted a
scheduled meeting with the government.
While the Federal Government intensified
efforts to persuade ASUU to return to work, FEC approved the award of
engineering as well as electromechanical works contract worth $5.792
billion for the Mambila Hydro Electric Power Plant located in Taraba
State.
Fashola, who said the project began in
1972 but made no significant progress since then, explained that the
contract awarded to a joint venture with a Chinese Civil Engineering
Company (CCEC) will be completed in about six years.
Giving insight into the scope of work to
be handled by the firm, the minister said the project “requires the
construction of four dams, one of them is about 150 meters in height,
the immediate two are 70 meters in height and the smallest of them is 50
meters in height. It also includes 700 kilometers of transmission line.
It will be in Taraba State in the area called Gembu, and it will
unleash the potential that have been reported about Mambila, including
agriculture, tourism and energy.”
The minister noted that when completed,
the project would help Nigeria strike a big blow on the climate change
issue and fulfill its commitment under the Paris agreement.
Explaining how the joint venture will
work, Fashola said: “You will recall that sometimes last year, the
Chinese government held a summit in South Africa, essentially what that
was about was supporting and partnering with African government to do
their infrastructure and also funding the Agurua projects. So, this was
one of the projects of infrastructure that was submitted there. I think
it also had the rail component.
“The money is coming from the Chinese government through their
Eximbank. So, it is an export funding
support for them and an import funding for us. Eighty-five percent is
supposed to be financed by them and 15 per cent is our own counterpart
funding. The award now triggers contract negotiations for the financing
side and after that is concluded the projects can now start.”
He said when completed Mambilla would generate 3,050 megawatts of power.
“The productive output will be a function
of water supply, because that is the major source of fuel, is a
hydroplane,” he stated.
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