ASUU extends strike by two months

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has extended its ongoing strike action by another eight weeks.
The union had a month ago declared a 30-day strike action in the first instance in its face-off with the Federal Government.

ASUU President, Professor Victor Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this on Monday after after an emergency meeting by National Executive Council of the Union.

“NEC, having taken reports on the engagements of the Trustees and Principal Officers with the Government, concluded that Government had failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) within the four week roll-over strike period and resolved that the strike be rolled over for another eight weeks to give Government more time to address all the issues in concrete terms so that our students will resume as soon as possible,” Osodeke said.

“The roll-over strike shall commence by 12.01am on Monday, 14% March, 2022.”

According to him, “NEC viewed Governments response, so far, as a continuation of the unconscionable, mindless, and nonchalant attitude of the Nigerian ruling elite towards the proven path of national development which is education.”

He noted that the meeting was called to review developments since the Union declared a four weeks total and comprehensive roll-over strike action at the end of its NEC meeting at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos on 12th-13th February, 2022.

Osodeke explained that the strike action came on the heels of Government’s failure to satisfactorily implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with the Union in December 2020 on funding for revitalization of public universities (both Federal and States), renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), Earned Academic Allowances, State Universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries, and non remittance of third party deductions.

“NEC noted that the Union’s leadership has held some interactive meetings with agents of government in the last four weeks that the strike action had lasted,” Osodeke said.

“However, NEC was disappointed that Government did not treat the matters involved with utmost urgency they deserved during the four week period as expected of a reasonable, responsive, and well-meaning administration.”

He added that “NEC acknowledged the intervention efforts, in various ways, by patriots and friends of genuine national development (students, parents, journalists, trade union leaders, civil society activists etc.) to expeditiously resolve the crisis which-Government’s disposition had allowed to fester. However, ASUU, as a union of intellectuals, has historic obligations to make governments honour agreements.”