By It appears students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria would spend another three months at home, following the decision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to extend its ongoing strike.
The National Executive Council of the body, after extensive deliberations, announced its decision to roll over the industrial action for another 12 weeks, as contained in a statement on Monday signed by its President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke.
According to ASUU, the extension of the ongoing strike was effective from 12.01 am, May 9, 2021, saying this decision was to give the government enough time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.
“NEC was equally disappointed that ASUU’s only meeting with the Professor Nimi Briggs-led Renegotiation Committee did not reflect the expected level of understanding, preparation and clarity that undergird collective bargaining going by the Committee’s confession of “going about consulting stakeholders”. Unless urgent steps are taken to redirect the Committee on concluding a draft Agreement that has been pending since May 2021, its activities may end up as another wild goose chase,” the statement said.
The body’s NEC also condemned Federal Government’s cavalier attitude towards the strike action in the last twelve weeks, saying the government’s resort to the use of starvation as a weapon for breaking the collective resolve of ASUU members and undermine our patriotic struggle to reposition public universities in Nigeria was ill-advised and may prove counterproductive.
ASUU added, “NEC was shocked that public universities have remained closed for about three months while members of the political class were busy purchasing expression of interest and nomination forms worth several millions of Naira in preparations for 2023 elections! Those in power turned their back on our degraded universities as they shuttle between Europe and America to celebrate the graduation of their children and wards from world class universities. This speaks volumes on the level of depravity, insensitivity, and irresponsibility of Nigeria’s opportunistic and parasitic political class.”
The striking lecturers also condemned the planned overseas trip organised by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities’ Spouses (CVCNUS), describing the move as “a waste of scarce resources of our universities”.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige had promised to meet with ASUU this week. The union’s President, however, said it hadn’t been notified of such meeting.
