Another ASUU Strike Looms
By Lawan Bukar Maigana
The Academic Staff Union of University has started preparations to start a fresh face-off with the Federal Government over failure to honor the re-negotiated 2009 agreement which was reviewed in May last year.
It was gathered that the National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will meet on February 14 to review the implementation of some components of the agreement and finally decide on the next industrial action.
The re-negotiated agreement consists of five components including autonomy for universities and welfare and funding for revitalizations.
The committee, which re-negotiated the agreement, was headed by Prof Munzali Jibril, Pro-Chancellor, Federal University Lafia, Nasarawa State and Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Federal Universities.
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ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, dismissed as mere promises the comments by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Federal Government was committed to meeting ASUU’s demands to prevent another round of strike.
Osodeke said the appeal for understanding by the president was a mere promise they have heard before.
The ASUU President, said in a recent interview, said most of the demands of the union have not been met by the Federal Government.
He listed some of the demands to include: non-signing of the re-negotiated FGN-ASUU 2009 agreement, non-payment of the balance of Earned Academic Allowances, non-deployment of UTAS, non-payment of lecturers on sabbatical, and proliferation of universities by state governments.
Buhari had, during a meeting with members of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, led by Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar III, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, said the Federal Government was committed to honoring promises made to ASUU to prevent strikes in universities.
The President also appealed to the union to note the fiscal pressures that the government was currently facing.
The ASUU President accused government officials of wasting resources on foreign trips and other frivolities.
