By Gloria Emmanuel Students of Federal Unity Schools may have to stay at home longer than expected as the hope of suspension of the ongoing strike by the leadership of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria was dashed Wednesday.
This is because the meeting brokered by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu, with the management of the Federal Ministry of Education was deadlocked.
The teachers of the 104 Federal Government Colleges and workers at the Federal Ministry of Education have been on strike over unpaid salaries and allowances to the tune of N1.8 billion.
Our reporter however, gathered from sources at the meeting that following the logjam, another meeting will be held today (Thursday) to further look at the gray areas in dispute.
There were indications on Sunday that the strike would likely be suspended on Monday in view of the level of issues already agreed upon in the previous meetings.
But the meeting held yesterday between the Ministry Management and leadership of ASCSN to fine-tune areas of agreement was deadlocked after several hours of deliberations.
Following the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu, the Federal Budget Office had released the sum of N527.6m to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the settlement of salary arrears and entitlements of staff of the Unity Schools.
According sources, the fund released was part of the arrears and entitlements estimated at N1.8 billion and enable the Federal Ministry of Education commence the payment of the first batch of promotion arrears.
Although, ASCSN in a statement by its Secretary-General, Mr. Lawal, Thursday last week insisted that the strike would continue until all their demands were met.
He particularly, said that the payment of promotion arrears to its members in the Federal Ministry of Education Headquarters, the Inspectorate Offices and the unity colleges must be made before the strike is suspended.
As part of the agreement reached last Wednesday at a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, both parties to the dispute were to get the necessary mandate of their principals ahead of today meeting for the strike to be reviewed.
The workers are on strike over allowances that have accumulated over the years including outstanding promotion arrears for 2007-2010 and the balance of 2011; arrears of salaries to some staff for July, August, September, and October 2013; end-of-year incentives; non-payment of 1st 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation; 2010 mandatory training; repatriation allowance; duty tour allowance to affected officers, among others.
