By It appears students of public universities in Nigeria will spend more days at home following the decision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to extend its ongoing strike by another four weeks.
Since February 14, ASUU has been on strike over the alleged refusal of the Federal Government to meet its demands.
Despite series of meetings between the Nigerian authorities and the striking lecturers, the industrial action have lingered on with multiple extensions.
In a statement, the ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke disclosed that the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) at a meeting on Sunday resolved to extend the strike by another four weeks.
Osodeke said ASUU wonders why it had taken five full months for the government to come to the realisation of the need for honest engagement, referring to the recent directive issued by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu must resolve the strike in two weeks.
The statement read in part, “NEC acknowledged the growing understanding of the issues and the groundswell of support for the Union’s principled demand for a globally competitive university education in Nigeria. Nigerian universities must not be reduced to constituency projects that merely exist on paper and our scholars must be incentivised to stay back and do what they know best, here in Nigeria.
“NEC observed that non-signing of the draft renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement more than one month after it was concluded by Professor Nimi Briggs-led Committee is further tasking the patience of ASUU members nationwide.
“NEC further observed that the on-going trial of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed ldris, on allegation of monumental fraud has vindicated ASUU’s rejection of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS). The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is enjoined to release reports of the latest tests on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) vis-à-vis IPPIS without further delay. ASUU shall resist any attempt to truncate the deployment of UTAS with all legitimate means available to the Union.
“NEC noted that cumulative indifference by the political class gave vent to pervasive atmosphere of insecurity which now threatens seamless provision of educational services in the country. The unceremonious closure of educational institutions in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), following the recent attack on Presidential Guards, betrays a panicky measure to addressing a malignant ailment. Nothing short of a comprehensive overhaul of the security architecture of the country will sustainably address the problem.
“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 12.01a.m. on Monday, 1st August, 2022.”
