ASUU Suspends 36-Day-Old Strike

Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU President (C) speaking Image source: Pulseng.com

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its five weeks old strike following a closed door meeting with the Federal Government’s delegation.

Media report continues:

Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU President announced this at a news conference after the closed door meeting with the Federal Government on Monday in Abuja.

He said they decided to conditionally suspend the strike action in view of the timeline of October 2017 for the implementation of the signed agreement.

According to Ogunyemi, after an elaborate and extensive consultation process, the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU has agreed to conditionally suspend the ongoing action.

“We are taking into cognisance the fact that major proposals from the government to address the contending issues in the strike action has a deadline of the end of October, 2017.

“All members of ASUU are to resume work after their branch congresses on Tuesday, September 19, 2017. “However, ASUU will not hesitate to review its position should government reneges on the signed Memorandum of Action,” he said.

He urged the government not to deliberately dishonor the agreement, pointing out that the continuous breach of signed agreement has been responsible for the constant industrial actions in the Universities.

Ogunyemi said that the current agreement with the government is based on mutual trust between the union and the government, adding that the trust of the union must be respected by the government.

Earlier, Sen Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment at a conciliatory with ASUU and other government delegation directed all members of the union to return to work after their branch congresses on Tuesday.

Ngige said that members of the union had insisted that they were tired of having agreements that are not implemented.

The minister pointed out that the content of the agreement was taken from the series of meetings with the union since the commencement of the strike.

He said further that that both the government and the union understood themselves and agreed on several issues.

He assured the union that the agreement reached would be implemented by the government in line with available resources.

He also said that the union agreed to the exemption offered by the government regarding the issue of Treasury Single Account (TSA), which include the issue of grants, endowment fund as well as salary short fall, which he said is already being implemented by the government.

On the issue of state universities, he said they agreed that the union would submit a position paper to the Federal Government on their observation with a view to advise state governments on the funding of state universities.

He commended the union for being patriotic members of the society, saying that anybody who demand better working equipment is no doubt a patriot.

Minister of Education, Professor Adamu  Adamu (left); Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige; President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba; Deputy President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Victor Osoduko and President ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi during a meeting between Federal Government and ASUU in Abuja. Photo: Lucy Ladidi Elukpo.

ASUU Suspends 36-Day-Old Strike

The Punch reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities has suspended its strike after a final four-hour meeting with the Federal Government delegation, which ended around 9pm in Abuja on Monday.

The ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, addressed a briefing at the Nigeria Labour Congress secretariat to announce the union’s “conditional suspension of the strike.”

Ogunyemi said the strike was suspended, after the union gave the Federal Government a deadline of the end of October to fulfil its promises.

He said, “We have signed a new Memorandum of Action today (Monday). Each item on the list in the MoA has a timeline attached. It is our hope that our trust will not be dashed again. We hope that the government will abide with the timeline attached to all the items in the MoA.

“Let us give a precautionary advice; should the government unilaterally vary the agreements it signed with our union, we should not be held responsible for the consequences.

“Now on the conditional suspension of the strike; after an elaborate and extensive consultation process, the National Executive Council of ASUU has agreed to conditionally suspend the ongoing action, taking into cognizance that the latest proposal by the government to address the contentious issues in the strike has a deadline of the end of October 2017.

“So, all members of ASUU are to resume work after their branch congresses on Tuesday (today), September 19. However, ASUU will not hesitate to review its position, should the government renege on its MoA, which you all witnessed today.

“There is always a question that why must ASUU adopt the strike option considering its impact on the quality of education which the union wants to raise. The answer to this is simple. ASUU’s resolve to forge a hitch-free academic calendar has been proved by the restraints it often showed before embarking on the strike.

“The current strike has been necessitated by the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement and the 2013 MoU and the 2016 resolutions. Specifically, the issues include funding for the revitalization of universities, earned academic allowances and exemption of the university system from the Treasury Single Account.”

During the final four-hour meeting between ASUU and the Federal Government delegation led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, both parties signed a MoA to finalize their decisions.

The MoA was presented to the union, the representatives of the Minister of Education, the Accountant-General  of the Federation, the representatives of the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Budget and Planning, and officials of the salary and wages commission.