Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is ready to call off its seven-month-old strike
After a seven-month strike, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is ready to call off its action. The strike has adversely affected the academic programmes of public universities. However, it has not been the fault of varsity teachers alone. There are other workers within the system who are not in favor of the strike. Teachers on strike have not been paid their salaries since February 14, 2022.
ASUU has consulted its different branches to come to a final position, which it intends to make public shortly. However, the union’s president has called on patriotic Nigerians to hold the federal government to account. The union’s delegates will meet later this week to discuss the strike conditions.
The federal government has yet to officially inform ASUU that the money has been released. The union says it hasn’t heard anything from the government regarding the money, but it is sensitising the public. ASUU is also demanding that the government implement IPPIS and address the growing number of universities across the country. Poor funding has been a major factor in the soaring number of universities.
The academic staff union of universities has been in industrial action for over seven months and has closed public universities across the country. Recently, the federal government sued ASUU in industrial court and asked them to end the strike.
It has pulled out of negotiations with the Federal Government
The Federal Government has been given a 21-day ultimatum to implement the demands of ASUU. However, the union is consulting with its various branches before finalizing its position. The union’s principle officers held a meeting on Sunday and resolved to consult with all branches of the union.
ASUU’s chairman, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the federal government was not sincere in its talks with the union. He also warned the government’s team in negotiations with ASUU not to enter into an agreement that they cannot fulfill.
The ASUU has continued to press for the speedy conclusion of negotiations, which began in September 2007. Despite the urgency of the situation, the government has failed to act. In particular, the federal budgetary exercise has failed to take into account university funding negotiations. As a result, both sides are in a worsening situation than they were at the beginning.
Despite the government’s inaction, the academic staff union of universities has declared a seven-month strike. The union, which was based in Lagos, said it was launching the strike because the government had failed to honor its previous agreements. It demanded revitalisation funds for the universities, payment of lecturers’ allowances, and the deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System. It also demanded a renegotiation of the 2009 agreement between the government and ASUU.
The strike action has triggered a series of developments. After the NEC resolution, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had consulted lecturers and students in an effort to find a way out of the impasse. The strike action has now extended to August 31st 2021.
It has said there is no agreement with the Federal Government
The federal government has not yet responded to the ASUU’s ultimatum to implement their demands. The union has said it will hold a strike for one month starting on August 1, 2022. However, the union is still consulting with its branches to come to a consensus.
ASUU is in court because the government has not agreed to pay its members properly. Its members make up almost 50 percent of the federal government’s staff. The Federal Government is also taking legal action because the union is using blackmail to pressure the union. The Federal Government has also claimed that the union cannot dictate the platform on which its members are paid.
The union has also claimed that the federal government has not reached an agreement with the university staff. The union has claimed that President Buhari has not signed the agreement as yet. The union is calling on the federal government to sign the agreement, but the government has said that it will not do so.
The Federal Government says the ongoing strike is unlikely to continue. It is confident that the strike will be called off soon. The Federal Government is putting efforts to end the disruption to the academic calendar at universities. It has also called for a meeting between the relevant government bodies.
It has said there is no agreement with the government
According to the Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, the government is unable to meet its obligations due to the impasse. Therefore, the government is considering renegotiating the terms of the current agreement reached with ASUU, which could end the ongoing strike by university lecturers. He made these comments on a television show called Politics Today, which is broadcast from Abuja.
However, the government has said that it does not want to borrow N1 trillion from the banks to settle the strike by lecturers. This has caused many to question whether the government is really in a position to settle the strike by paying the lecturers their salaries. Despite this, ASUU has announced that it will extend the strike for another four weeks. The strike is expected to end on July 31, 2022.
Currently, the federal government and the ASUU are locked in a court battle over the conditions of service. The Federal Ministry of Labour filed a lawsuit against the Academic Staff Union Universities (ASUU) on February 14. The government also filed a case with the Industrial Arbitration Court in Abuja. In recent weeks, the government and the union have held a series of meetings, but so far, there is no agreement.
The strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has been on for more than two months, with tens of thousands of undergraduates missing classes. The Federal Government has said there is no agreement with the union and accused branch leaders of misleading Nigerians.
It has said it is not perturbed by the government’s desperation
While ASUU has repeatedly said it is not perturbed by the desperation of the government, it must also be said that it has not been able to get its way with this strike. The government’s failure to create an enabling environment for enterprise has made strikes a very ineffective weapon. The time wasted by strike action also delays the entry of young people into the labour market.
The president of ASUU, Phil Salami, has said that the government has repudiated three draft agreements with the union. The unions have refused to waste time with a government that they perceive as being unserious. As a result, the federal government has made it clear that it will not sign any agreement it cannot implement. The minister, Adamu, has said that he and his team should avoid making agreements they cannot implement.
The government has been trying to use the court system to compel ASUU to give up its strike. But Osodeke said the court has no power to make the union back down. He compared it to forcing a doctor to treat a patient.
A judge disagreed with the ASUU lawyer. The judge ruled that the government has not curtailed the strike, as the unions had agreed to hold meetings with the government before it began the strike. The meetings started a few days after the strike began and continued until September 1, 2022. The ruling has also triggered a court battle for the union. Lawyers for ASUU are now filing an appeal and a stay of execution.
It has said it is not perturbed by the recognition of CONUA
Despite the government’s recognition of CONUA as a new union, ASUU members remain steadfast in their stand for better remuneration for university lecturers and improved infrastructure in public universities. The move comes in the wake of a recent spat between the ASUU president and the breakaway faction, which is said to have split with the union. The ASUU embarked on a strike in 2009 after the Federal Government refused to renegotiate the ASUU agreement. The strike was over the inadequate funding of the university system and the replacement of IPPIS with UTAS.
The recognition of CONUA comes amid allegations that ASUU leaders are biased and blindly supporting one candidate over another. However, the new union is not a representative of all lecturers in universities, and a number of students are not members of the association.
The government has been urging the ASUU to stop the strike, but the union said it is not perturbed by the government’s recognition. The strike has lasted for more than six months, and government officials have been under pressure from various stakeholders to resolve the issue. The ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke said: “Despite the government’s decision, ASUU will not disband. It is one of the largest and most organized trade unions in Africa. The federal government will realize this within the next few days.”
The new unions will be entitled to all the privileges and rights of an academic association, such as the ability to check off dues from its members. They will also be entitled to the CONUAS Salary Structure and Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).
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