Hopes are high of a formal end to the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meets today to ratify the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last Wednesday between the ASUU leadership and the Federal Government.

The meeting, scheduled to hold at the Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, is to be attended by chairmen of ASUU local chapters, zonal coordinators and past leaders. It is expected to come up with a date for the resumption of classes.

The meeting is in keeping with the promise of ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, who said shortly after the signing of the Mou in Abuja that the union would meet within a week to decide on whether to call off the strike which has crippled the country’s public universities since July 1.

The MoU was signed 24 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed that a sum of N200 billion agreed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU)at a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on November 5 had been fully paid into a Revitalization of Universities Infrastructure Account.

ASUU embarked on the strike following government’s failure to implement a funding agreement signed with the union in 2009.

•Photo shows ASUU President Fagge.