The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that it will resume its nationwide strike if the Federal Government fails to reach an agreement with the union at the expiration of its one-month ultimatum.
ASUU’s Kano Zonal Coordinator, Abdulkadir Muhammad, gave the warning on Tuesday, Nov. 18, in Kano while addressing reporters after the zone`s meeting.
In October, the union suspended its warning strike with a month-long ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands, which centre around their welfare and providing a conducive teaching and learning environment.
Muhammad decried what he called the government’s sluggish approach to renegotiating key agreements aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s public university system.
The meeting had representatives from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; Bayero University Kano (BUK); Kaduna State University (KASU).
Others were Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology (ADUSTECH), Wudil, Federal University Dutse (FUD), Northwest University (NWU), Kano; and Sule Lamido University (SLUK), Kafin Hausa.
Muhammad said this followed the report presented at ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on November 8 and 9 at Taraba State University.
The union leader said the union’s NEC expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the ongoing renegotiation between the union and the government, describing it as a major obstacle to concluding the process meaningfully.
He said the suspension of the strike in October was meant to create and enabling environment and a gesture of goodwill toward Nigerians.
“However, our hope for a holistic and timely resolution of the issues is increasingly being dashed.
“It is unfortunate that some government functionaries employ different tactics to undermine the renegotiation process and misinform the public on the state of our engagements,” Muhammad told reporters.
The zonal coordinator said the government had yet to show genuine commitment to improving lecturers’ welfare or addressing the conditions that fuel brain drain in the university system.
“What government has offered will neither improve the working conditions of academics nor attract scholars from other countries to our universities,” he said.
According to him, it is unfortunate that some government officials claim that ASUU demands have been met. Muhammad urged the Federal Government to place a moratorium on the establishment of state universities as it did for federal universities. “Governors have cultivated the habit of establishing universities in their states without commitment to funding them,” he said.
Also, the Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to join the resumption of its suspended strike if its National Executive Council (NEC) directs so.
The union accused the Federal Government of blatant unwillingness to resolve all outstanding issues to restore desired industrial harmony in Nigeria’s public universities.
The ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, who addressed reporters yesterday in Benin City, Edo State, said the union’s areas of intervention remained a sore point that needed a radical approach to stem an impending crisis in the system.
Igbafen said it was wicked and inhumane to leave university lecturers on the same salary regime for more than 15 years.
Also, the union has urged the Federal Government to meet its demands on several issues affecting the education sector or face another round of industrial action. Its Calabar Zonal Coordinator, Ikechukwu Igwenyi, gave the warning while addressing reporters yesterday in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
It said: “We demand the completion of renegotiation and full implementation of agreements with timelines, as well as fair remuneration and improved work conditions for academic staff to curb the exodus of talent.”
ASUU’s other demands include immediate release of 3 and a half months’ outstanding salaries and all withheld salaries, refund of all third-party deductions, and payment of all arrears of promotion.
The union also demanded the payment of outstanding 25-35 per cent wage award with consequential adjustment, adequate budgetary allocation to education, and sustainable funding of Nigerian Universities.
It urged the Federal Government to respect university autonomy and end the imposition of policies that undermine academic freedom.
Igwenyi, accompanied by nine other officials of the union, read the demands during the media briefing in Calabar. They threatened to embark on a strike should the Federal Government fail to address the demands.
“We gave the government a four-week ultimatum to address these issues… We shall remain unbowed, unbroken, and unwavering in this just struggle, with profound faith, secured in the knowledge that victory is sure,” ASUU stated.
