Abimbola Abatta and Deborah Onatunde
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted that since the Federal Government failed to meet its demands, the union will not call off the ongoing industrial action.
ASUU’s President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this on Sunday in an exclusive interview with Nigerian NewsDirect newspaper.
Professor Osodeke stated this in reaction to the suspension on the five-month strike embarked upon by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
JAC spokesman, Peters Adeyemi, had announced the suspension in Abuja on Saturday, saying the relevant organs of the two unions decided to call off the strike after the Federal Government met most of their requests.
The two unions said the strike would be called off for two months.
However, the ASUU President said the unions “Decided to call off their strike because the Federal Government had agreed on what they want.
“But we will not call it (the strike) off because the government has not agreed with our demands,” he added.
A media report, yesterday, revealed that a source in the union, who was privy to the negotiations, explained that ASUU refused to resume further talks because of a ‘Greek gift.’
According to the report, the sources, noted that while there would be a paltry increase in the salaries of professors and a deduction in the salaries of graduate assistants.
On the proposed salary scheme, the ASUU President said, “We have negotiated with them [Federal Government], and told them what we want.
“What we have is collective bargaining, not a gift or award. This is what we keep on saying. It is still by collective bargaining that we can agree, not one person dashing people any amount. It is a collective bargain.”
Reacting to the speculations that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are planning to protest against ASUU regarding the lingering strike, he said, “If all Nigerian students are not in school and are wasting their time, and the government insists that they want to punish ASUU, well, the CSOs can go ahead to protest. They are free.
“We have finished negotiation with government. We have told them what we want. We have discussed all the issues. I don’t think there is any country in the world where all academic staff union of universities are on strike for six months. So, the CSOs have the right to protest.”
Nigerian NewsDirect reports that on February 14, the union commenced the ongoing strike, following the government’s failure to meet some of the lingering demands of the union.
The reasons, according to ASUU, bordered on the refusal to release revitalisation funds for universities; non-release of earned allowances to lecturers; end the proliferation of universities by politicians and State Governments; refusal to deploy the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers; and refusal to renegotiate the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the striking lecturers met with the Federal Government last week with the hope of resolving the industrial action.
When ASUU met with the Professor Nimi Briggs Renegotiation Committee, the committee appealed to the lecturers to suspend the strike, assuring that their demands will be captured in the 2023 budget, a development that was swiftly rejected by the striking lecturers.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, had noted that the failure of the government to agree to the payment of six months arrears of salaries of the lecturers was stalling the suspension of the strike.
According to Adamu, ASUU insisted that its members must be paid for the period they have been on strike.