The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has revealed that voluntary conciliation was used to ensure a quick resolution of the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ ongoing strike (ASUU), Charmingpro reports
Ngige made the announcement on Tuesday in Abuja during a three-day capacity-building workshop on International Labour Standards and Dispute Resolution in Nigeria.
The workshop is being organized in collaboration with the International Labour Organization by the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) (ILO).
Ngige stated that voluntary conciliation was chosen over arbitration in order to avoid delaying the resolution process with the striking lecturers.
“I could have referred the matter to the IAP or the National Industrial Court of Nigeria,” the minister explained (NICN).
“However, I used my discretion to weigh the situation in order to determine whether it would cause further delay in the resolution of the dispute in a court process.”
Ngige, on the other hand, recalled that ASUU went on strike on February 14 and that voluntary conciliation began on February 22 and was completed on March 1.
“The two outstanding issues were the terms of service, which, according to the 2009 Agreement, would be reviewed every four years,” he explained.
“The previous review was in 2013, and the current review began in 2018 with Wale Babalakin as chairman of the renegotiation committee.” We couldn’t finish because Babalakin had left.
“A new committee led by Munzali arrived. Munzali completed his work and turned it in to the Federal Ministry of Education.”
Ngige pointed out that all of the committees, including the previous Onosode committee, were internal Ministry of Education committees.
“Once the committees finish, their products are sent up,” he explained.
“The main issue here is wage and salary review.” That is where they were prior to the ASUU strike.
“You assist them if a party wants us to transmit a matter back to them for a second look.” That is referred to as voluntary conciliation.
