The Nigerian government has begun a meeting in Abuja with representatives of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
The meeting is part of the steps by the government to resolve issues involved in the ongoing nationwide strike by the lecturers.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said several meetings had been held between the government and the union to end the strike.
“To enable members of ASUU to get back to the classrooms, we held a meeting last Friday and it was fruitful. It broke into an executive session and we had to be frank with each other,” Mr. Ngige told journalists before entering the meeting room.
Mr. Ngige said the government looked forward to reaching an agreement after today’s meeting, to bring the strike to an end.
On his part, the president of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, said the union had come up with areas of concern with respect to offers by the government, based on the feedback from its members.
“At this meeting, we hope we can reach an amicable decision,” he said.
Mr. Ngige declared the technical session of the meeting open.
