By Yusuf Boluwatife
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has made clear the readiness to embark on a fresh strike following the failure of the Federal Government to implement an agreement signed with the union.
The union said it has given the government till month end (Tuesday) to reach out or it will embark on strike.
According to The PUNCH, the Union president said that the FG had stopped reaching out to ASUU and had failed to implement the agreement reached.
Recall ASUU, in March 2020, embarked on an indefinite strike which lasted for 10 months, following its disagreement with the FG over the Integrated personnel payment system.
The Union, however, developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution to replace IPPIS and had several meetings with the Ministries of Finance, Education, Labour and Employment, and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation before it was approved but yet to be implemented.
Likewise, the FG and ASUU signed an agreement aimed at resolving some of the demands of ASUU, a development that led to the suspension of the strike on December 24, 2020.
Due to government’s negligence of their demands, Osodeke said the union would not hesitate to embark on a fresh strike to protest government’s failure as it’s the only language the government understands.
“The government has refused to reach out to us. Government officials have stopped. In fact, they don’t take our calls again. Nigerians should tell the government to do what they agreed to do.
“We signed an agreement and even in May, we reached a final agreement; this is August and nothing has been implemented. Does it make any sense? We are giving them till the end of August and after that, we start the procedures,” he added.
