FG, ASUU knocked over extension of strike

Students in public varsities are to remain at home for four more weeks, no thanks to the one month extension to ongoing strike announced yesterday by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

It was the third time that the union would extend the industrial action started by its members on February 14, following the   breakdown of talks between the Federal Government and its leaders on the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement.

The extension of the six-month-old strike announced in a statement by ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke drew flaks from the parents’ and students’ umbrella bodies.

Deputy National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) Adeolu Ogunbanjo chided the Federal Government for lack of commitment to the resolution of the crisis.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) reminded the Federal Government and the striking teachers of the consequences of their actions.

Citing the failure of the government in fulfilling its promises,  Osodeke said the decision to extend the strike was taken during an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council on Sunday at its headquarters located on the campus of the University of Abuja.

The union, however, thanked the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), affiliate unions and civil society organisations for trooping out to stage a nationwide protest between July 26 and 27.

ASUU said the emergency meeting of its NEC became necessary since it publicly announced a 12-week extension of the strike in May.

It said the government has not shown commitment towards resolving the lingering crisis, adding that the additional four weeks will be observed to monitor the government’s seriousness and commitment to address its concerns.

The statement reads: “Following extensive deliberations and taking cognisance of Government’s past failures to abide by its own timelines in addressing issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MOA), NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for four weeks to give Government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues. The role-over strike action is with effect from 12.01am on Monday, 1st August, 2022.”

ASUU said the NEC meeting took place against the backdrop of government’s obligations “as spelt out in the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with ASUU on 23rd December 2020.”

It said: “Specifically, NEC recalled that government’s failure to conclude the process of renegotiating the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, deploy the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), pay outstanding arrears of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), release agreed sum of money for the revitalisation of public universities (Federal and States), address proliferation and governance issues in State Universities, settle promotion arrears, release withheld salaries of academics, and pay outstanding third-party deductions led to the initial declaration of the roll-over strike on 14th February, 2022.

“NEC viewed with seriousness the recent directive given by the President and Visitor to all Federal Universities that the Minister of Education (Mallam Adamu Adamu), in consultation with other government officials, should resolve the lingering crisis and report to him within two weeks.