The Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr Chris Ngige, on Monday , said university students would resume in January 2021 .
Ngige spoke in Alor, in the Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State during the inauguration of his medical outreach for the people of the area .
He said the Federal Government had met 98 per cent of the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities , adding that the remaining two per cent demands holding the strike would be sorted during negotiation on Tuesday ( today) .
He expressed optimism that after the meeting , ASUU would call off their strike and students would commence studies in January.
“ We have met about 98 per cent of the request of ASUU ; the remaining two per cent is what you can call promissory notes . So, I am very hopeful that by midnight of Monday , there are some works we are supposed to get on to do . They also have some work they are supposed to do on their own side with their people .
“ We will be meeting in the afternoon of Tuesday to compare notes . I believe that we might have come to the end of the strike after the meeting . It is a journey of a thousand miles which you will have to take one step first . Tomorrow , all things being equal, we will agree because we were disagreeing before .
“ We disagree to agree and agree to disagree formerly. But tomorrow, I hope we will agree to agree. Once we do that , schools will open in January,” Ngige said.
ASUU President , Prof . Biodun Ogunyemi , in an interview with our correspondent on Monday said the union would conclude make its decision known on Wednesday .
He said, “ I will address that matter on Wednesday . There is nothing I can say now . We are concluding our consultation by tomorrow ( Tuesday ) . I have been telling all journalists that I won ’ t say anything until Wednesday . Whatever he ( Ngige) says I’m not saying anything. We are reviewing the situation . ”
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Ministry for Labour and Employment , Charles Akpan , said the Federal Government and the leadership of the ASUU would again meet on Tuesday , in continuation of the ongoing negotiations to end the strike which had paralysed academic activities at the public universities for the past nine months .
The two parties had met last Thursday for over five hours but the resolutions of the parley were not made public .
The Federal Government had during the November 27 meeting with the union pledged N 40 bn as the Earned Allowance and N 30 bn for the revitalisation of the university system bringing the total payment to N 70 bn .
It also promised to pay the arrears of salaries to the lecturers.
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