ASUU Finally Speaks On Ending Seven Month Strike

ASUU has revealed that only a concrete agreement can end the 7-month-old strike.

Glamtush reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it will only end its ongoing strike that has entered the seventh month only when a concrete agreement has been reached with the Federal Government.

President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said this in Abuja on Thursday at a National Town Hall Meeting on Tertiary Education tagged: ‘The Locked gates of our citadels -A National emergency’ organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Save Public Education Campaign.

The ASUU President said the union was willing to end its seven-month-old strike, urging the Federal government to return to the negotiation table.

The union embarked on industrial action on Feb.14, making it over seven months since public universities across the country were closed down.

After a breakdown in negotiations, the Federal Government dragged ASUU to the National Industrial Court in an attempt to end the strike.

ASUU President said: “On all these issues, we have given the government a minimum that we can accept, but they have not responded on the issue of revitalisation, on the issue of earned allowance and on issues that we have all discussed.

“We negotiated and agreed that they should sign and this is very simple, not more than one day.

“On UTAS and IPPIS , we say release the report of the test you did and let’s look at the one who came first and take it as we agreed.

“So we have given them the minimum we want and we have to come down and they can do it in one day if there is a will.”

The ASUU president expressed sadness over the lingering strike resulting in the government taking the union to court.

He said that suing the union was not an option as it would further worsen the situation of the students and tertiary education in the country.

He said that if the court forces the lecturers to return to school, they won’t force them to teach with open minds, saying that the students would definitely be at the receiving end.