The Chairperson of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Calabar Zone, Happiness Uduk, has accused the Federal Government’s sub-committee, established to review the union’s demands, of lacking genuine interest in resolving the planned industrial action by the body.

ASUU has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address several unresolved issues, warning that failure to do so will lead to another strike.

Among the demands from the lecturers is the finalisation of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement based on the Draft Agreement by the Nimi Briggs Committee in 2021, which Uduk described as outdated due to the current Dollar/Naira exchange rate.

They are also calling for the release of withheld salaries from the previous industrial action, which has affected members for three and a half months.

Additionally, ASUU is demanding the payment of unpaid salaries for staff in sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct positions impacted by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), as well as the release of outstanding third-party deductions, including check-off dues and co-operative contributions that are accounted for in the 2023 Federal Budget.

In an effort to prevent the anticipated strike, the Federal Government formed a sub-committee to address the lecturers’ demands. However, speaking to journalists in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Uduk criticised the committee’s focus on holding meetings without any progress.

“There have been meetings upon meetings without anything coming forth; all they have been doing is just calling those meetings so that they can get allowances, that is all,” she stated. “They have met more than five times, and each time they will say, ‘Oh, we can’t find this document,’ and when we provide the document, they will say, ‘Oh, there is no cash backing,’ even when budgets were made for some of those things. You still tell us there is no more money.”

She condemned the government’s tactics of delaying negotiations, adding that nothing tangible has changed, save for meetings “and more meetings for which government agents were more concerned with receiving allowances for convening such meetings from taxpayers’ money.”

Uduk lamented that the government’s failure to implement several Memoranda of Understanding and Action from 2013 to 2022 has hindered industrial harmony in public universities. She noted that renegotiations have been ongoing for over seven years, involving multiple committees without resolution.

Regrettably, Uduk pointed out that since the APC-led administration took office, efforts to adopt and implement the agreed-upon terms have faced significant roadblocks. She emphasised that current economic realities mean that wage awards and palliative measures cannot replace the need for a renegotiated agreement based on the principle of Collective Bargaining.

She also expressed frustration over the government’s failure to address the exit of universities from the IPPIS system, despite a presidential directive and a court order issued in December 2023.

“Our union will withdraw services, and we should not be held responsible for the breakdown in industrial harmony, which will arise as a result of the government’s insensitivity, insincerity, indifference, and time-buying tactics,” Uduk warned.

She called on those in authority and their representatives to take decisive action to prevent the impending crisis. “The union calls on those in authority, as well as their agents, to seize this window to forestall the looming crisis,” she said.