ASUU issues fresh strike notice, gives FG 14 days ultimatum

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a fresh 14-day ultimatum for the federal government to resolve lingering issues affecting lecturers. This comes after the expiration of a previous 21-day ultimatum issued by the union.

ASUU is demanding the conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement based on the Nimi Briggs Committee’s Draft Agreement of 2021, as well as the payment of salaries withheld due to the union’s eight-month industrial action in 2022.

ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, in a statement on Wednesday, expressed frustration with the government’s lack of commitment and delay tactics, noting that these actions were fueling a crisis in the public university system.

“In view of the foregoing, ASUU resolves to give the Nigerian Government another 14 days, in addition to the earlier 21 days, beginning from Monday, September 23, 2024, during which all the lingering issues must have been concretely addressed to the satisfaction of the membership of the union,” the statement read. “The union should not be held responsible for any industrial disharmony that arises from the government’s failure to seize the new opportunity offered by ASUU to nip the looming crisis in the bud.”

ASUU is also demanding the release of unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments affected by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and the payment of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions.

The union is seeking funding for the revitalization of public universities and the payment of Earned Academic Allowances, partly captured in the 2023 budget. Other issues include the proliferation of universities by federal and state governments, the implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities, the reversal of the illegal dissolution of governing councils, and the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as a replacement for IPPIS.

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The renegotiation of the 2009 agreement has been a major source of perennial disputes between the government and the academic union. This agreement includes the negotiation of wage scales and other earnings of Nigerian academics.

The renegotiation has stalled since 2017 and has seen three heads of the negotiation process. Wale Babalakin, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and pro-chancellor of the University of Lagos, led the renegotiation team constituted by the government from 2017 until his resignation as pro-chancellor in 2020. In 2020, Munzali Jibril, an emeritus professor of English and then pro-chancellor of the Federal University, Lafia, took over. Negotiations under him proceeded relatively smoothly, and he turned in a draft agreement in May 2021, but the government never signed or implemented the agreement.

When the union embarked on another nationwide strike in 2022, the government constituted yet another committee headed by the late Nimi Briggs, also an emeritus professor. Briggs’ committee also renegotiated the 2009 agreement and submitted a draft to the government in June 2022, which was never signed or implemented, forcing the 2022 strike action to last until October when an Industrial Court ordered the union to suspend the strike after a suit was instituted against them by the federal government.

ASUU is also protesting the continuous payment of its salaries and entitlements using the IPPIS platform, claiming that the platform is fraudulent and shortchanging its members. In December, the education minister stated that President Bola Tinubu directed the exclusion of universities from the IPPIS. However, the union claims that a ‘new IPPIS’ is being used to pay its members, which it asserts is essentially the same platform.

ASUU is advocating for the replacement of the IPPIS platform with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), developed as an alternative to the IPPIS. Furthermore, the union is calling for the government to implement the recommendations of visitation panels and amend the National Universities Commission (NUC) Act to prevent the proliferation of public universities.