Rising from a National Executive Council, NEC meeting of
the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, held in University of Abuja at
the weekend, ASUU National President Comrade Biodun Ogunyemi has declared a
nationwide strike to commence Today.
According to
Ogunyemi in a document titled, “Strike Bulletin No.1”, the strike is to be a
total, comprehensive and indefinite action whereby no form of academic
activities, including teaching, attendance of any meeting, conduct and
supervision of any examination at any level, supervision of project or thesis
at any level should take place at any of the nation’s universities.
In the
bulletin signed by Ogunyemi, it was recalled that ASUU had to embark on a six
month strike between July and December 2013 and the strike was suspended when
government signed an MoU with the union.
“Of all the
items contained in the MoU, only the N200b out of a total of N1.3tr of the
Public Universities Revitalisation (Needs Assessment) fund was released,. The
union also embarked on a one week warning strike in November 2016 to press for
the implementation of 2013 MoU. However government did not implement the
understanding reach between the union and Federal Government base on the
intervention by the leadership of Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Stating
further, Ogunyemi said “The union has also met with the 2009 Agreement
Implementation Monitoring Committee, IMC, and had written several letters press
releases and communiqués on the outstanding issues to no avail. The National
Executive Council, NEC, of ASUU then met at the University of Abuja on August
12, 2017 to consider the result of a referendum from all branches in a bid to
ascertain ways of convincing government to implement outstanding aspects of the
2009 and the MoU of 2013”.
Ogunyemi
listed the outstanding issues with the Federal Government to include: payment
of fractions/non-payment of salaries; non-payment of earned academic
allowances, non releases of operational license of NUPEMCO; non implementation
of the provisions of the 2014 pension reform act with respect to retired
professors and their salaries, removal of universities staff schools from
funding by government and funds for the revitalisation of public universities.
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