"The money will be released on a yearly basis at N220bn per annum beginning from 2014. For the outgoing year, the government will only release N100bn and this has been processed."
He said that the government, in order to show its commitment to a fresh pact, accepted that "the fund (N1.1tn) should domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria"
"The money will be released on a quarterly basis to the universities. So, there won't be any problem about funding the deal," the source said.
The National Universities Commission and the Trade Union Congress, according to him, will be the joint guarantors of the agreement while the Minister of Education will be the implementation officer.
FG to give varsities N1.1tn in five years
Details of the Monday/ Tuesday marathon meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities have begun to emerge.
The PUNCH gathered on Tuesday evening that a key component of the agreement reached by the parties was that the Federal Government would inject N1.1tn into public universities in the next five years.
A reliable source, who made this known, also hinted that the strike would be called off anytime next week.
He said the government team which was led by President Goodluck Jonathan would release N220bn yearly into the sector beginning from 2014.
The source added, "The meeting should be the longest that we have ever had on this crisis but I can tell you that both parties were frank all through the discussions.
"The parties also showed commitment towards ending the crisis. The President in particular showed that he was serious about ending the strike and that was why he offered to release over N1tn to the universities in the next five years.
"The money will be released on a yearly basis at N220bn per annum beginning from 2014. For the outgoing year, the government will only release N100bn and this has been processed."
He said that the government, in order to show its commitment to a fresh pact, accepted that "the fund(N1.1tn) should domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria"
"The money will be released on a quarterly basis to the universities. So, there won't be any problem about funding the deal," the source said.
The National Universities Commission and the Trade Union Congress, according to him, will be the joint guarantors of the agreement while the Minister of Education will be the implementation officer.
The source also said that the government agreed among other things, to revamp the public universities by ensuring that all those issues that always led to strike were dealt with once and for all.
It was learnt that the negotiating team of ASUU led by Dr. Nassir Faggae met on Tuesday night to further deliberate on the deal.
Though the details of the meeting were not known as of 11.22pm on Tuesday, it was gathered that ASUU might call a National Executive Council meeting on or before Saturday where the deal would be tabled before all its branch executives.
Jonathan had while shaking hands with Fagge after the marathon meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja said, "My President, I hope it (strike) will end today(Tuesday). Our children have suffered enough. We must find a solution."
All those in attendance responded with a loud "Amen."
When greeting Omar, he said, "My President with you around, there will be no problem; our agreement is signed, sealed and delivered.".
Faggae told State House correspondent on his way out of the Villa, that his team would take back a message to varsity teachers before a decision would be taken on the next line of action.
"We had a lengthy meeting with Mr. President, and we looked into how best to address the problem of university education in this country. We now have a message from Mr. President that we are going to take to our members and we are expecting that our members will respond appropriately to his message," he said.
Fagge added that since the message was meant for members, he would not divulge it to the press.
When asked whether university teachers would be called upon to return to the classrooms, he said that the decision was left for them to take.
When further asked if he was impressed by the President's message, Faggae cautioned journalists against putting words in his mouth, insisting that only ASUU members would determine that.
The Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, who listened to Faggae's encounter with journalists, later said progress was made during the discussion.
He said, "We made progress. The President of ASUU told you that they are going back with a message from the Federal Government back to their members and the message is full of high expectation and hope."
When asked whether ASUU would call off the strike, Wogu said that was why he described the message as full of expectation.
"Our prayer is that they will come back with positive outcome. They might even not come back to meet us. They might take decision there that will meet your expectations " he said.
He added that the offers made by the government during the meeting were those that were in line with the contentious 2009 agreement.
He said since the issues that led to the strike bordered on the 2009 agreement, the government did not go beyond the pact.
The President was joined at the meeting that started at 2.40pm on Monday by Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; the Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike; Wogu among others.
Faggae led the union team which included past presidents such as Prof. Abdulahi Sule-Kano, Prof. Dipo Fashina and Prof. Festus Iyayi.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulawahid Omar and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Bobboi Kaigama, also attended.
Other members of the delegation were Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, Prof. Victor Osodeke, Prof. Suleiman Abdul, Dr. Victor Igbum and Mr. Michael Odunmoraye.
The marathon meeting was the first between ASUU and Jonathan since the strike started. The Presidency took over the negotiations with ASUU on September 19 with Sambo in charge.
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FG Offers ASUU N220bn over Five Years to End Strike
06 Nov 2013
•Union insists on N350bn in 2014, N400bn over four years
•Govt, NLC optimistic about reopening of varsities
Jaiyeola Andrews and Damilola Oyedele
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has begun consultations with its members on whether or not to accept the new offer of a yearly payment of N220 billion over the next five years made by the federal government, in furtherance of the implementation of the 2009 Agreement aimed at ending the four-month strike by the university teachers.
THISDAY gathered that the federal government at a marathon meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan that ended Tuesday, had made the offer of the annual payment of N220 billion for five years after the union had insisted on getting paid N350 billion in 2014 and N400 billion annually over the next four years.
But the federal government had pleaded with the union to be reasonable in its demands so that the universities could be reopened. It also appealed to ASUU's representatives at the meeting to take its offer to its members and gave them one week to thrash it out.
If the federal government's offer is accepted, the amount will be used for the universities' infrastructure needs and lecturers' earned allowances as stipulated under the 2009 Agreement.
Following the N200 billion annual offer made by the federal government, the union, after the 13-hour meeting, said it could not take a decision yet on the proposal until its members had examined the offer and decided whether to accept or reject it.
Although none of the parties to the negotiations, which began on Monday at 2.40 pm and ended at about 3.30 am yesterday, was willing to divulge details to reporters who had kept vigil throughout the meeting, it was gathered that the concrete annual lump sum of N220 billion offered by government, raised hopes of an imminent end to the protracted labour dispute.
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) were upbeat yesterday that students who had been kept home by the strike would soon return to schools.
Briefing State House reporters yesterday morning after the marathon meeting, ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, said the union would take the message from Jonathan to its members.
On what the message was all about, he said the union got a message from the president and would take it to the members.
He however declined to say what had transpired at the meeting and whether a truce was reached or not.
"Well we had a lengthy meeting with Mr. President, rubbing minds on how best to address the problem of university education in this country. And we now have a message from Mr. President which we are going to take to our members. And we are expecting that our members will respond appropriately to the message of Mr. President," he explained.
When asked for details of the message, Fagge said: "I can't tell you (reporters). It is not for you. It is for our members."
He also declined to say if he was satisfied with the president's offer, adding: "Don't put words into my mouth. Our members will determine that."
On whether the union was ready to call off the strike to allow the resumption of academic activities in universities, he stressed: "That is up to our members."
Wogu, also in his interaction with reporters, expressed optimism that the outcome of the negotiations with ASUU would lead to the suspension of the strike.
He said: "We made progress. The president of ASUU told you (reporters) that they are going back with a message from the federal government to their members. And the message is full of high expectations and hope."
On whether the message was good enough to make ASUU call off the strike, he said: "That is why the message is full of high expectations and hope. So our prayer is that they come back with a positive outcome.
"They might not even come back to meet us, they might take decisions there that will meet your expectations.
"Nigerians should be patient for ASUU to finish their meetings and come out with a message to Nigerians."
On whether the government made any fresh offer to the union, Wogu said: "Well, the offers we made are the offers they are talking about in line with the 2009 agreement. The issues that led to the strike are issues contained in the 2009 Agreement and we did not go beyond the agreement."
The minister, who also spoke to THISDAY on the issue yesterday, reiterated his statement that the marathon meeting focused on the 2009 agreement with the union.
"We believe the presidential intervention has resolved the logjam. The ball is now in the court of the union leaders to meet with their members to convey the outcome of the meeting to their members.
"We are very optimistic that this will bring about a positive outcome. Even the ASUU team was very happy with the deliberations," he said.
The minister however was not categorical on whether the federal government had accepted to implement the terms of the 2009 Agreement to the letter.
The NLC, which was part of the negotiations, also welcomed the offer made by the federal government to ASUU.
NLC acting General Secretary, Chris Uyot, who declined to give any details on what was discussed, described the proposal as "acceptable".
But he told THISDAY in a telephone conversation yesterday that while the federal government's offer was acceptable to the NLC, suspending the strike would depend on whether ASUU finds it acceptable or not.
He added that the acceptability or otherwise of the offer would be determined after a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of ASUU.
"We held a meeting with the president and ASUU. Yes, there was an offer, the offer was okay and acceptable to the NLC but it depends on ASUU on whether they can accept it. When you have an offer in a situation of this nature, you need to put them before your members who gave you the mandate; you have to get back to them before taking a decision," he said.
Uyot described the process as a regular feature of industrial relations' negotiations.
On details of the proposal put on the table by the federal government, he said: "I cannot reveal the details of the offer. The offer to ASUU are not to the NLC, so until ASUU comes out with a statement, we cannot reveal the details."
Also, the Chairman of ASUU (UniAbuja chapter), Dr. Clement Chup, said the union's NEC would reach out to members before taking a decision.
"The meeting has been held. There will be a briefing at different levels and we will get back to you all," he said.
He also declined to reveal details of the meeting or whether the union would accept the new offer.
"I am sorry, I am not permitted to speak on whether the offer is acceptable or not, or discuss the details," he added.
But it was gathered that given the latest development, ASUU might be more disposed now to return to the classroom.
A labour analyst who asked not to be named said it was in the interest of the union to make some concessions on its demands following the interventions by the president, after several interventions by highly-placed individuals and the National Assembly had failed.
Negotiating teams headed by Vice-President Namadi Sambo as well as Benue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, who chairs the Needs Assessment Implementation Committee had both failed to yield fruit.
"ASUU has to realise that it has no support among Nigerians, even NANS has condemned the strike. Nigerians are also unhappy with ASUU whose demands have been described as outrageous since the details were revealed," the analyst said.
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