Following a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) decided that all complicated issues would be settled amicably to prevent the looming strike.
The parties also decided to begin a dialogue to stop the union's scheduled industrial activities.
The parties reportedly conducted a private meeting at the education ministry's Abuja headquarters starting at 4:30 p.m., according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The two ministers in charge of education, Tahir Mamman and Yusuf Sununu, as well as other senior members of the federal government team's ministry attended the more than two-hour-long meeting.
Following the meeting, ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke, who headed the union's delegation, informed reporters that the negotiating process had commenced and expressed the hope that the federal government will implement the agreements reached.
We've had talks about every topic and assigned some individuals tasks to review to decide on the best course of action
Mr. Osodeke stated that in response to the union's two-week ultimatum, they will return and provide their members with the meeting's specifics.
What matters is that we have initiated the process and are hoping to see it through to completion for the sake of our young men and the country.
"The government has been in power for a year, and we have not received a formal meeting call." We are holding our first official meeting today.
We have initiated a process and will establish due dates. We hope the process will continue, and we are going to meet to examine what has been done on those problems," he stated.
Speaking for himself, Mr. Mamman stated that talks to address the issues facing education will start right away.
"This has been a really positive and useful meeting.
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We've talked about the steps to ensure the system functions properly; many of the problems we addressed were ones we inherited, while others are still present.
"We have reached a consensus on the course of action after discussing each one of them without exception.
"Many talks will still take place about some facts that we do not now possess, which falls beyond the purview of the ministry and necessitates our collaborating with colleagues in other ministries.
"However, the most crucial thing is that we had an excellent meeting and decided to carry on with the consultations to address the issues facing Nigerian education," he stated.
Recall that ASUU had threatened to go on a national strike in response to the federal government's unwillingness to accede to its demands.
The administration was given a two-week deadline by the union to fulfill all of its unfulfilled demands.
Removing from IPPIS, renegotiating the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, the entire backlog of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), and all outstanding payments are a few of the contentious concerns.
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