The Federal Government has begun moves to bring all unions within the university system under one single entity, according to the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed.

Professor Rasheed said the polarisation of the university system, where each of the unions comes up with its individual demands to the Federal Government had made it difficult for the government to accede to their demands.

He noted that this was why university education in Nigeria could not match the academic standards of their peers abroad. He disclosed this while speaking as a special guest at the 2nd Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) in Abuja on Monday.

According to him, talks were on to convince the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to invite all the various unions to a roundtable discussion on why they needed to come under one umbrella.

The unions expected to key into the new proposal are the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

He argued that there was a need for the unions to enter into negotiations with the gov¬ernment with one accord.

While appealing to the conscience of the unions, the NUC scribe said it was regret-table that most times government and individual unions locked horns while negotiat-ing better welfare packages for staff at the detriment of students. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy Daily Independent)