Fresh strike looms in Nigerian universities

• ASUU warns FG to honour agreement

There are emerging indicators of looming fresh strike in Nigerian universities over failure of the Federal Government to fulfill the agreement entered with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) while in negotiations during the last national strike.

National Daily learned that ASUU on Sunday warned the Federal Government over the tendency to commence fresh national strike since the government continued to undermine the agreement with the universities reachers.  The tertiary institution teachers appealed to students and well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to honour its agreement with the union to forestall further industrial crisis in the country’s tertiary education sector.

National Daily gathered that ASUU President, Biodun Ogunyemi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday, declared: “government has not kept faith with our MOA (memorandum of agreement) signed on February 7.

“What government ought to have done, they do not want to do any more. They have literally gone to sleep.

“For instance, they had promised before the suspension of the strike, to set up visitation panel to our universities within two weeks and three months after government has not done anything in that regard.

“At least not to my knowledge that they had put any panel in place nor inaugurate any.

“By February 28 of this year, government had promised to pay the union, N25 billion part payment of outstanding arrears of the EARN academic allowances.

“Our renegotiation with Dr Wale Babalakin had promised to put us in a more cordial path with fair guidelines when we cone back to the renegotiation table but now, there seem to be no change of attitude on the side of government.”

ASUU National Executive Committee (NEC) had at the end of its meeting at the Federal University of Technical Akure (FUTA) in Ondo, on November 4, 2018, declared a ‘total, comprehensive and indefinite’ national strike. The strike was suspended on February 7 after negotiations between the Union, federal government and other stakeholders in the coutnry.

National Daily further learned that the ASUU President warned that the Union has a timeframe attached to every action, hence, the current call for caution on the part of government.

Ogunyemi had declared further: “Our members have begun to express doubts about government’s promise to fulfill its pledge faithfully.

“And when this pressure begins to mount, there is nothing the leadership can do because leadership must hearken to the voice of followers.

“The point is that we are not keen about disrupting the academic calendar. What we are doing is to express our worries and carry the public along.

“So, Nigerians must come out now and speak to government concerning all these things raised to maintain the current precarious industrial stability on our campuses.”