A lot of Nigerians have blamed ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) over their impromptu one-month strike despite the union still negotiating with the federal government of Nigeria.
According to the report, a committee (National Inter-religious Council headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev Samson Ayokunle) has already been set up to negotiate with the union about their lingering demands.
As ASUU has declared a one-month strike without the committee’s approval or knowledge, the consequence surrounding this decision would not only affect them but that of the Nigerian students.
This is based on what the minister of education, Adamu Adamu, and that of labor and employment said about ASSU’s strike. And according to them, the federal government would no longer be blamed for this ongoing strike because the fault is from the union.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has expressed his disappointment in ASUU, for failing to stick to their agreement. According to the minister, he said that before now, there have been several negotiations between ASUU and FG. However, both parties have not reached any agreement yet. The Minister equally noted that he was surprised as ASUU’s decision came abruptly amidst ongoing negotiations.
Meanwhile, Adamu made this known on Wednesday while fielding questions from State House Correspondents shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.
He said, “The last thing that happened was that our committee looked at their demands but there are renegotiations going on. They submitted a draft agreement which the ministry is looking at.
A committee is looking at it. Immediately it finishes, the government is meant to announce what it had accepted. Then suddenly, I heard them going on strike.
We want a peaceful resolution. The federal government is ready to meet them on all issues they have raised and if there are so many meetings and the gap is not closing, then I think it’s not the fault of the government.
There is a solution to this. The negotiations are the solution and that is why I have said that I am surprised that ASUU has gone on strike.”
Furthermore, when asked if the government can reach an agreement with ASUU before the end of the one-month strike, the minister said, “I can’t give you time. I am ready to reach an agreement with ASUU now but since I’m not the only one, I can’t give you time but certainly, we are going to reach an agreement very soon.”
Following the sudden announcement of embarking on a one-month strike by ASUU, the minister of labor, and former governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige, has described ASUU’s decision as invalid.
According to the minister, he asserted that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities was a “leave” following the failure of the union to notify his ministry before making such a decision.
Meanwhile, Ngige made this known on Thursday in a telephone interview with The PUNCH newspapers.
Meanwhile, the union had blamed the federal government for failing to honor some of their demands, which include; payment of revitalization funds for universities, deployment of the UTAS payment for university lecturers, payment of earned allowances for university lecturers, among others.
Ngige said that “ASUU failed to get back to us and proceeded on strike without sending notifications. They just gave themselves a leave. If you want to go on strike, you should at least inform us officially by giving us notification but they refused to.
You can not just go on strike like that, it is illegal. So, they are just on leave. We will work with them and they will call off the strike.”
Having seen the response of the Minister of labor and employment, one would conclude that ASUU might never get their demand honored until they do the needful, which is, going back to the committee (NIREC) to give them their response.
Again, ASUU’s impatience has definitely halted the academics of Nigerian students and would probably make lecturers not to earn their February salary.
In as much as this seems to be Impatience of ASUU, the Federal Government has been inconsistent in dealing with the union over the years. Each of them has a share of the blame.
The main victims are the Nigerian students.
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