ASUU explains why it hasn’t called off its eight months old strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU has said it will not be calling off its eight months old strike until the Federal government pays all withheld salaries and fulfills all of the offers made to the union thus far.

The Federal government, in its latest offers to ASUU leadership, pledged to pay N40 billion as Earned Allowance and N30 billion for the revitalization of the university system, bringing the total payment to N70 billion. The government also agreed to settle the arrears of salaries of the lecturers before December 2020, but after due consultation with the government side.

The Federal government also accepted the demand by ASUU that they be exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) pending the approval of their proposed payment system, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

In a chat with The Nation, ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, said none of the promises have been fulfilled and until they are, the union will not call off the strike that started in March this year.

“We are still consulting but certainly before the end of this week we will report to the minister the findings and feedback from our members. The offers people are talking about are proposals that have timeless and some of these things are expected to have been happening. If those things they promised with the timeline can happen before we conclude our consultation I think the process will go smoother.

A concrete example is the payment of our members’ salaries which have not been paid. If people are not paid I don’t think anybody will be willing to go back to work and other things that have timeline that we expect government to implement.

“You don’t expect people, after eight months, to go back to the classrooms on empty stomach. That is where we are.

“Before the end of this new week we will get back to government but we keep on telling them each time they contact us that they (government) should fulfill their own part of the bargain, things that have timelines.”