Ebikinmi Samuel
Academic activities will again be suspended in public universities for the next month unless the Federal Government embarks on convincing steps to halt an industrial action declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
After two days of deliberation, the National Executive Council of the Academic Union of Universities have declared a one-month warning strike starting from Monday.
The President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed the Union’s decision during a press briefing in Lagos.
Osodeke said the Union had to take the tough decision to prevent the deteriorating university system from collapse.
The lecturers’ body said that it was left with no other option than to proceed on the warning strike as a response to the failure of the Federal Government to implement agreements reached with the university lecturers.
It was stated that the Union decided to go for a one-month warning strike to give the Federal Government the opportunity to take steps to avoid a total break down of academic activities in the university system.
The decision to embark on yet another strike was taken at by the Union’s NEC in a meeting which lasted two days at the University of Lagos.
The leadership of ASUU had given a three-week ultimatum to the Federal Government on November 15, 2021 to implement its 2009 agreement with the union.
The aggrieved union cited unfaithfulness and indeed lack of seriousness on the part of the FG to implement a jointly signed Memorandum of Action which culminated in the suspension of the prolonged strike of 2020.
In November, last year, the NEC of ASUU met at the University of Abuja where the leadership of the Union said that the meeting with the Government team led by the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, did not yield any result.
The lecturers’ body has been engaging the FG on issues such as Earned Academic Allowances, promotion arrears, the sudden introduction of Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system, and observed inconsistencies emanating from its implementation, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, the funding for revitalisation of public universities among others.
ASUU wants the IPPIS to be replaced with its own University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS)