The likelihood of The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, shutting down all public universities is increasing. This has been made possible due to the federal government’s inability to implement agreements the two parties struck in December 2020, which led to the suspension of a nine-month strike.
ASUU had shut down academic activities in public universities between March and December 2020 during an indefinite strike, when the Memorandum of Action (MoA) was signed as the Federal Government agreed to meet their demands.
However, one year after the strike was suspended, ASUU has accused the Federal Government of failing to fulfill its side of the agreement and threatened to begin another strike immediately.
School activities have continued in the universities until date amid reports that the union and the Government, on October 18, reached an agreement on the N22.17 billion earned allowances and N30 billion revitalization fund for public universities.
The agreement was reached after a meeting between ASUU, and the government, led by the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiubam, while Femi Gbajabiamilar, speaker of the House of Representatives, presided over it.
Apart from the earned allowance and revitalization fund, another major issue is a remuneration payment platform, as the union proposed the University Transparency, Accountability Solution, UTAS, while the FG insisted on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, as a payment platform for all federal workers.
Speaking with DAILY POST on Sunday, the ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osedeke said there would be a lecture-free day in some branches on Monday (today) to enable members to have urgent meetings.
According to him, if the Federal Government fails to do the needful, an indefinite strike would be inevitable.
He stated that after the meeting, members of the union would embark on sensitizing the general public and students on the issues and their consequences if the government fails to act quickly.
He said, “We declared Monday a lecture-free day in some of our branches because we are going to be having meetings in those places.
“After the meeting, we are going to interact with the public and the students to tell them what is ongoing and what they should expect if the issues are not properly handled by the Federal Government.”
