 Welcome back. It's still the breakfast and plus TV Africa, and we are set for our first major conversation this morning. We have a guest on standby, but let's quickly inform you if you've not already had for some strange reason that the academic staff union of universities, Nigeria's university premium, or premium universities staff union, they now they're not the only union, so we have to call them their leading one. And they've resolved to suspend their indefinite strike action, which has been on for about eight months now. Asu's decision was taken at the National Executive Council meeting of the union in Nabooja early Friday. A formal announcement is expected to be made Friday morning. It's a marathon meeting that held overnight. They got it late Thursday night. A member of the ASU NEC, who was at the meeting Friday morning, is quoted as saying that the suspension of the strike was based on last week's ruling of the Court of Appeal, which asked the union to obey an order of the National Industrial Court. The industrial court had had by granting an injunction sought by the Nigerian government, ordered the lecturers to suspend the strike pending the determination of the substantive suit. Now joining us to discuss this latest involvement is Professor Sani Fagge, who is a political analyst and senior lecturer at Bayero University Canoe. Professor Fagge, good morning and thank you very much for your time. Good morning. All right, thank you. Professor Fagge, ASU is touting the court ruling as being, or the court order rather, as the reason why they suspended their strike. But there's been an ongoing engagement between the leadership of the House of Representatives and the union, or the union's leadership. Do you really believe or agree that it's because of the court order that they are going back to the classroom? Because they had earlier said they wouldn't go back to the classroom and they had filed an appeal. Yeah, I think the court order might have been the major reason for the suspension of the strike. Whatever it does, it tries to do it within the ambit of the law. So I don't believe beyond today's deadline, like contempt of court, and that will also, you know, direct the process. Because by doing that, maybe ASU will lose the sympathy of, will be seen as in contempt of the law. That is a major reason. But the other reason is the intervention of the speaker uses good offices to see that at least they have reached a certain middle ground. So I think it's a combination of the two. That is why the strike has been suspended. The reason I'm asking is because of the stance of the union, the very hard stance of the union, you know, to say that even if they were to go back to the classroom in obedience to the court order, while the case is still being before the National Industrial Court, that they cannot be forced to teach. And the ASU president had given an example of a doctor who doesn't want to treat you. Would you like to have that doctor treat you? And so what do you think the leadership of the House of Representatives were able to bring into the discussions and the conversation that the Minister of Labor and Employment, Senator Dr. Christine Gige, and the Minister of Education Malama Damodama, were not able to say to us, what do you think Baja Be'amila was able to say to tell them? Because the ASU president said that he had seen light at the end of the tunnel. So what light do you think he was referring to? Yeah, I think the, you know, provided a kind of middle ground. So that is why the ASU chairman said he had seen a light at the end of the tunnel. Because even though the details of what happened are yet to be out, but from what we get is that most of the issues that lead to the strike have been addressed. So that is what ASU is saying. I think they have seen that the issues have been addressed and that what they want now is a commitment on the government side that these issues will be implemented as agreed upon. For example, one of the contentious issue is the issue of no work, no pay. But from what we gather, there is, you know, a shifting ground from the government side that they are willing to, you know, pay at least in trenches. So I think that is a major issue in which the Education Minister and also the Labor Minister were not able to do. And the other thing is the issue of revitalization. And they also promised that visitation panel report will be, you know, soon addressed. There are so many of the issues. And the most contentious one is that of IPs. So they said that they are going to see that they integrate the issue of routers into IPs. So I think these are some of the things that the speaker was able to achieve, which the two ministers were unable to do. Not that they were incapable, but I think they were unwilling to address these issues. So that is why the strike dragged for eight months. Okay, so now that the strike has, you know, been called off, dragged for eight months, do you see a possibility of having all of the students getting back to the classroom and what becomes, you know, of the calendar of the school? Yeah, I foresee that, but it all depends on the sincerity of the government at implement what has been agreed upon. So if the government is seen to have taken, you know, a step, a sincere step to address the issues, I think the whole process will continue. And the other thing is that whenever there is a strike, usually after the suspension of the strike or calling up of the strike, whatever the nature of it, but members of ASU redouble their efforts to make for the lost ground, which means that perhaps holidays, vacations, you know, will be suspended, and then there will be all efforts to regain what has been. It will be a double work in order to cease. Sometimes what happens will be changed, but, you know, they all will have to be finished by members of the ASU. So what becomes of, you know, the school calendar? I don't remember. I'm sure that the students will also probably struggle, you know. So we talk about the school and the fact that in a session, you're supposed to have a set in months, number of months will make up a session. And so we have this where in October, November and December, do you think that this would be enough for a session for students to go back and achieve anything? I think it will be enough. Like I said, what is likely going to happen is that the old calendar will have to be changed. Instead of, let's say, like 2021 or let's say 2021-22 session, they may change it to like 2022-23 session and, you know, do away with the previous one because already, you know, the dates, the months have passed, so you can now change the nomenclature of the date, but yet you recover what you have done, what you are supposed to have done in the last session. Would that also affect, you know, those calls, the grades for the student? No, no, no, they will continue on that. You know, one thing is that in Nigeria, we don't have uniform calendar. Some are in 2021, some are in the 2021-22 session, so you cannot unify that one. And where you stop is where you continue. Like those who are about to start the exam when the strike started, maybe what they will do is now to go back, you know, do the pressure, you know, lectures and this and so that the people will, as a student, will now, you know, remember what has been done and then you give them like some few weeks to, you know, go over what was missing and then you continue with where you stop. I don't think they will say we have cancelled it all over and then we have to start it operation. Prof, we don't know the details of the agreement between the federal government and ASU, the House of Representatives and ASU, but what do you expect to happen? Because, I mean, I don't know how many Nigerians would smile upon the Union holding, you know, keeping the students at home for eight months. Nigerians coming out to express support, even protesting in support of the Union, blocking routes to airports and all that. Only for the Union to go back to the classroom without, you know, agreeing to anything with talking about. So what do you expect that they would agree, the federal government would agree that we're going to pay you arrears of salaries, I mean, for the months that you've been at home because that was for the mental demand of the Union. They need the six, seven or eight-month salary to be paid to them whilst they were on strike. They also need, you know, the issues surrounding revitalization fund, visitation panel and all that. Those things need to be sorted out. And then, of course, they are entitlements, basically agreements right from when Jonathan was president. So what do you expect to see happen in terms of agreement? Yeah. Okay. I think, like I said, even though the details are yet to be out, but from what we can gather, I think a lot of things have been, you know, a lot of issues have been addressed. For example, the president in his presentation of the budget set out, you know, some billions that this is going to address the issue of revitalization, which is going to be in the budget. So if it is approved, that is one thing that, you know, has been taken care of. And also there is, there are also statements that about 50 billion has been set up to pay the allowance and that there are also a statement that the government is willing to pay, like, four months, you know, when the thing started and that before the end of the year, they will pay the rest. So these are some of the challenges. And like I said, the issue of the visitation panel also, the government promised that they are going to come up with a white paper on that, which is one of the contentious issues. And then also the issue of IPs. Like what they say, they are going to adjust to the same, to take care of the peculiarities of the institutions. And they say from now on, maybe after this thing has been settled, the governing council will be responsible for the allowance of the university. So these are some of the grounds that I think could be said to be part of the achievement of the speaker. And that perhaps when the detail comes out, I think, you know, people will see that, yes, the negotiation and bargaining is the most effective way of resolving labor dispute. Yes. But, Prof, is it looking at what is, may come out as the agreement? Because I mean, if you're saying that a, you know, federal government had attended to all their demands, so why did they keep stretching this all this while? Because this is what we've been hearing from Chris Ngige. And when the negotiation was handed over to Minutes of Education to take the lead in, is what we kept hearing from him that they had attended to everything. The only matter that was left was the issue of whether they would be paid for the months they were at home, and also the, I think, maybe the IPPIs wasn't really sure. But if this is the situation that the government has, what has changed? Because last time I checked in, Ngige walked out of the meeting. Adama Adamo has not been part of this negotiation between Femme Bajabiamila and the leadership of us. So, would it also end up being justified to have kept students at home for eight months? Yeah, I think that is the bitter truth. You know, the strike in the past place should not have taken place because the government will have addressed these issues long ago. Now, even if it happens, it could have not lasted more than two weeks if there is a willingness only, you know, both parties to address the issue. But unnecessarily, they kept on dragging it and it reached to a level that perhaps there is need for a mediator so that we can now save pace on both sides. And which I think that is what will have happened long ago. The government will have addressed these issues. And now you see what the speaker did. I think is what will have been done much earlier. Because I don't know why the government in its own wisdom decided to drag it. And now that there is this intervention, now they have adjusted the ground which they have done much earlier. Professor Sani, let's just quickly take this one because we call it a wrap in no time, just in a minute or a few seconds. In other words, you're saying that we're dismissing the thoughts that the decision to call of the strike by, you know, ASU is not based on the fact that there was a court ruling because that's what they have said. It's based on the court ruling and that's why. And this is to allow further conversation conditionally. Therefore means that there's a tendency that they might just also go back if, you know, the government does not meet up with it. So are you saying that this is not the case? And if that's what it is, what's the reason that ASU should be lying? I mean, why should they come up and say that we're calling of the strike because of the court ruling and we're giving room for further conversation? What's the essence for other shenanigans? I said court ruling was the major reason why ASU had to shift the ground, you know, to go back to work. But what I'm saying is what buttresses the court ruling and what makes it easier, you know, for ASU to shift ground is also the mediation of the speaker. So it's not only one reason that, you know, led to where we are today, but I think the court ruling is the major reason, but we cannot dismiss the, you know, intervention of the speaker. Because that is why, you know, you have a referendum and, you know, based on the promises in the speakers intervention, that is why you have almost majority of the campuses, you know, agreeing to suspend the, you know, the strike. Otherwise, if not for the combination of these, you know, you have some people who are going and saying that, look, it is not a contempt. If you now, since you have appealed, you can go and challenge the law and so on and so forth. But what makes it easier is the combination of the two. All right. So there's a tendency that, you know, ASU might go back, you know, on strike. Yeah. All right. Professor Sanifage, we have some... Professor Sanifage, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. We definitely would have some opportunity to discuss this again. And congratulations to you. I'm sure that your students can't wait to return to the classroom and enjoy from your driven will of knowledge. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. All right. And we have more discussions ahead. Mercy? Definitely. We take a break now. And when we return, we'll be looking at, you know, the flamingos just with us.