Indefinite Strike Looms For Universities As ASUU Knocks FG

The tussle over the lingering issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government is far from being over.

The Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch of ASUU, has threatened to embark on another indefinite strike if the Federal Government fails to implement the agreement it reached with the union in 2009.

They equally appeal to government to settle them, noting that the Union leadership and her members were tired of negotiation.

Addressing a press conference at ASUU Secretariat Awka, the Unizik branch Chairman, Comrade Stephen Ufoaroh, said it was deeply saddened that the Federal Government had failed to honour the agreement which is entered into in 2009 without coercion.

Ufoaroh regretted that government had spurned the magnanimity the union extended to it through the signing of various Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) on the way forward for Nigerian tertiary education.

In his words “We are saddened that having reached the end of the tunnel, we couldn’t find any light.

True to their character, the agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria have reneged from implementing the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement.

“Up till now, the federal government is still in arrears of major components of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement that includes funding for the revitalization of the public universities, earned academic allowances and the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement.

The situation has been compounded by the introduction of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and the attendant consequences of the mutilated salaries, promotion arrears and the non-resolution of the more favoured University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

“We once again alert Nigerians that unless the government strives to sincerely resolve these issues, there will be no rest for us all. There will be no more MOUs or MOAs.

When the macabre dance begins, there will be no stopping it until everything is fully implemented.

“The insincerity of the federal government is not just beyond understanding, it is beyond tolerance”.

“Gentlemen of the Press, for emphasis, the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU FGN Agreement was concluded on 19th May, 2021. Eight months on, the Federal Government has neither reacted to the draft agreement nor responded to the union.