ASUU Strike, FOUR MONTHS AFTER: Where does it go from here?

ASUU strike in Nigeria, day 100 +, where does it go from here? The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has said there is no going back on the already four-month-old strike except the federal government fully implements the agreement it reached with the union in 2009.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday in Ado-Ekiti appealed to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the classrooms in the interest of their students.

He made the appeal at the inauguration of the College of Engineering Complex at the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti State.

Jonathan urged ASUU members to heed his appeal saying that whatever their grievances might be, keeping students out of school for four months was unpatriotic.

“I once again appeal to the entire membership of ASUU to pause and ponder on the adverse effect of their action on the future of the vibrant youths of this great nation.

“The collective destiny of tens of thousands of tomorrow’s leaders should not be held hostage to vagaries of labour disputes.

“As long as we are humans, as long as we are a developing society, this labour dispute must come up.

“I always say that even in the developed societies we hear about labour dispute; and there is no society, even the most developed, that has provided the facilities for every worker.

“Our security services, the Police, the Armed Forces, Navy, Air Force and para-military, intelligent services are also operating in an environment that is not the best.

“If all of us should go on long strike because our environment is not at its optimum, then definitely we can never get the Nigeria of our dream.

“So, let me use this unique opportunity that I am interfacing with our future leaders, our students, to plead with ASUU members.

“If it is a genuine strike keeping students out of classrooms for almost four months, by that they have demonstrated to everybody that they have a case.

“And if the strike is motivated by some other interests, they have also achieved that by keeping students out of schools for more than a semester,” he said.

Nigeria ASUU Strike enters 100 days, no end in sight

Since July Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue had disclosed  to news correspondents  following hours of deliberation behind closed doors, the meeting agreed on major issues except the two, nothing inconclusive have been done.

“These are the outstanding issues, otherwise other issues have been agreed on and we believe that by next week we should be able to agree on all the issues and, probably, ASUU will call off the strike,’’ he said.

“If you go into our universities you will agree with me that there are a lot of infrastructure deficit; so, we have agreed that all the funding agencies will meet with ASUU,” he said.

ASUU: 'Nigerian Government is Not Telling the Truth'

The chairman of ASUU in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Comrade Prof Ike Odimegwu said, “Nigeria as a country has never had a shortfall in revenue since the 1980s, but the government keeps insisting that it has no money. We are aware that there is more than enough money.

Latest government strategy on ASUU Strike: Can it work? 

In early October, the supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, disclosed that 80 per cent of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s demands had been met by Federal Government.

“The N400 billion they are demanding is not part of federal budget or Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention.

“And out of the N92 billion earned allowances demanded by ASUU, government has offered N30 billion to them for a start,’’ he said.

“We want to tell Nigerians that if the ASUU strike fails, there will be negative consequences for the Nigerian education sector. An average Nigerian will pay N200,000 as tuition in a federal university, and over 80 percent of parents will not be able to train their children in University.

ASUU strike, latest updates

“We are, therefore, calling on Nigerians to joins us and question the Nigerian government, and call them to place priorities right. Trillions have been allocated to build a centenary village, but here we can not meet the UNESCO approved 26 percent budget for education. We must tell the government that 8.2 percent budget for education is not enough”.