If concrete agreements are reached, we will end over 7-month industrial action - ASUU

The President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has said the union was wiling to end its seven-month old strike if concrete agreements were reached with the Federal Government.

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Government recently sued ASUU at the industrial court in an attempt to end the strike. The union embarked on strike on February 14, accusing government of reneging on agreements it reached in order to suspend its last industrial action in 2020.

The union also blamed its ongoing strike on the Federal Government’s attitude toward renegotiation of salaries and allowances, as well as adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software. The lecturers’ are also demanding funding for revitalisation of public universities and promotion arrears.

Speaking at a National Town Hall Meeting on Tertiary Education tagged: ‘The locked gates of our citadels -A national emergency,’ in Abuja, yesterday, Osedeke said:  “On all these issues, we have given the government a minimum that we can accept, but they have not responded on issue of revitilisation, on issue of earned allowance and on issues that we have all discussed. We negotiated and agreed that they should sign and this is very simple, not more than one day.  On UTAS and IPPIS, we say release the report of the test you did and let’s look at the one who came first and take it as we agreed. So, we have given them the minimum we want and we have to come down and they can do it in one day if there is a will,” he said.

Osodeke, therefore, reiterated the union’s commitment to return to school if the Federal Government puts its proposal on the table, saying that negotiation could be reached if the government was willing. 

“If the government loves this country, these children and their parents, then they should come to the table and let us resolve these issues in one day. Just as we did in 2014, they should come and ensure that we do that, we can even have the meeting openly so that Nigeria will see what we are discussing.”

The ASUU president expressed sadness over the lingering strike resulting to  government taking the union to court. He said suing the union was not an option as it would worsen the situation of the students and tertiary education in the country.

He said if the court forces the lecturers to return to school, they would  not force them to teach with open minds, saying students would be at the receiving end.

He commended the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors for stepping in to resolve the issues

He, therefore, called on parents and students to appeal to government to do the needful so that the strike would come to an end once and for all, rather than attacking the union.

Mrs Vivian Bello , Convener, Save Public Education Campaign, an NGO, pleaded with both parties to resolve the problems saying that the students are not the only people feeling the negative impact, but also the union.

Bello said it behooves on both sides to bring the crisis to a perpetual end for the sake of the students as well as the development of education in the country.

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