Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has taken over government’s negotiations with the striking varsity lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The lecturers had on August 13 commenced an indefinite nationwide strike over federal government’s failure to implement an agreement it reached with the union in 2009.
The union boycotted a meeting which was scheduled to hold between the government and the union on Tuesday.
It is not clear if the appointment of Osinbajo as the head of government’s negotiation team would make the union return to the drawing table.
Government’s decision to appoint the Vice President as its chief negotiator was disclosed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, at the end of Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
The minister also told journalists that the private sector should be held responsible for the delay in the appointment of the chairman of the Minimum Wage Review Committee.
He said government would announce chairman of the committee when all the names of representatives of the private sector are received.
It would be recalled the ASUU had been having a running battle with the federal government over the 2009 agreement between the two parties.
The union said it would call off the ongoing strike if it receives a positive response on its demands from the federal government.
