Any hopes that the industrial impasse between the Nigerian government the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), will be called off to enable university students go back to schools were dashed on Monday when the Union extended a strike action that has been ongoing for more than two months by another 12 weeks.
The new announcement came at the expiration of a rollover warning strike the Union embarked on March 14 which elapsed on Sunday, May 8, while the new strike will commence from Monday, according to the President of the Union, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke.
The body took the decision after an extraordinary emergency meeting that lasted from Sunday night till the early hours of Monday and in a statement to convoy their message, said the notice was to “give the government enough time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues that led to the strike that has lasted 12 weeks.”
The ASUU statement noted that their action was necessitated by governmen’s insensitivity to the plight of the lecturers and unwillingness to meet their demands as captured in an agreement entered in 2009.
“The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held an emergency meeting on Sunday, 8th May 2022, at the Comrade Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, Abuja.
“The meeting was called to review developments since the Union declared an eight-week total and comprehensive roll-over strike action at the end of its emergency NEC meeting at the Comrade Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, Abuja on 14th March, 2022.
“The strike action came on the heels of the government’s failure to satisfactorily implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with the Union in December 2020 on renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), funding for revitalization of public universities (both Federal and States), proliferation and governance issues in State Universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries (owed for over 20 months in some cases), and Non-emittance of third-party deductions.
“After extensive deliberations, noting government’s failure to live up to its responsibilities and speedily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) within the additional eight-week roll–over strike period declared on 14th March 2022, NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for twelve weeks to give government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.
“The roll-over strike action is with effect from 12.01 a.m. on Monday, 9th May 2022,” the statement reads.