The president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Biodun Ogunyemi, has announced a conditional suspension of its nationwide strike and has directed lecturers to go back to work on Tuesday (today).
The suspension of the strike which started on August 13, was announced at the end of a meeting with top government officials led by Chris Ngige, minister of labour, in Abuja on Monday.
Giving reason for the industrial action, ASUU cited the failure of the government to implement the 2009 agreement it reached with the union, and asked the government to pay its members their earned allowances and to increase funding for universities.
It also protested non-payment of earned academic allowance (EAA), removal of universities staff schools from funding by the government and non-implementation of provisions of the 2014 pension reform act with respect to retired professors and their salaries.
Ogunyemi said the union decided to conditionally suspend the strike action in view of the timeline of October 2017 for the implementation of the signed agreement.
Statement of suspension of strike by ASUU
“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,” he said.
“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.”
However, the president of the union 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 the current agreement with the government is based on mutual trust between the union and the government. He added that the trust of the union must be respected by the government.
