August 23, (THEWILL) – The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), will on Sunday, meet to take a decision on whether to suspend or continue with the industrial action.
THEWILL gathered that the academic council will meet at the union’s national headquarters at the University of Abuja to take a decision on the prolonged strike based on reports from the various state congresses.
Lecturers of the Federal Government owned universities had embarked on strike since February 14, 2022, to demand release of revitalisation funds for universities; deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS) for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers; release of earned allowances; the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to universities and other issues involving the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement;
Shortly after the commencement of the ASUU strike, other university-based unions such as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and other allied educational institutions also embarked on strike to push their demands.
In a bid to end the strike, the government had set up a negotiation team, led by the Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja, Nimi Briggs, to look into negotiations with the unions.
While, SSANU, NASU and NAAT had suspended their strike actions, the negotiations between the government and ASUU had stalled over backlog salaries.
While ASUU insisted on the payment of the backlog salaries of members, the Federal Government on its part had maintained a policy of ‘No Work, No Pay’.
However, source privy to the development told the Punch that the National Executive Council meeting of ASUU will hold this Sunday, to determine if the strike should be suspended.
“NEC meeting will hold on August 28, the four weeks ultimatum that we gave is expiring that same day. We will be making our decisions based on the results of the state congresses.
“The NEC has to depend on the result of the congresses. The zones have held their own congresses; the branch chairmen will also talk to their members and they will get feedback which will be transmitted to the NEC”, the source said.
When asked if the union will consider calling off the strike, the source asked, “Does it look like the government wants to end the strike?”
Confirming the date of the NEC meeting, the chairperson, ASUU, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Dr Gbolahan Bolarin, simply said, “Yes, Sunday.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has denied reports that it was planning to proscribe ASUU.
The Spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong made the clarification on Monday.
Goong said, “We are not aware of such plans. The minister gave all the updates during his press briefing with State House correspondents. If there were plans to take further steps, he would have noted it.
“As regards the next steps, the government has already inaugurated a committee to harmonise the IPPIS, UTAS and UP3; this will ensure that the government will pay with only one payment platform that will harmonise all the technical peculiarities.
“The government has also rolled out its achievements. A total of N2.5 trillion has been expended in the tertiary education sector in the past 10 years, that is even much more than the amount in the 2009 agreement. The issues about salary adjustment have also been attended to.
“If you bring some demands and almost 80% has been attended to, there is no need to drag the strike anymore. It is unreasonable for the strike to be lingering, seeing as the government has worked towards fulfilling most of the demands.”
