ASUU seeks faster completion of negotiations with government

A union leader says they are tired of “meetings upon meetings.”

News Agency of Nigeria • November 4, 2020

Prof Biodun Ogunyemi (Credit:theabusites.com)

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it is seeking swift completion of its ongoing renegotiations with the federal government to suspend the lingering industrial action.

Professor Ade Adejumo, the Zonal Coordinator, Ibadan Zone of ASUU, stated this at a press conference in Ibadan on Wednesday.

The Nigerian public university lecturers union had embarked on industrial action seven months ago to oppose the federal government’s decision to draft members into Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

“Some people have been wondering why ASUU is on strike again. The simple answer is that ASUU is on strike because of the survival of the University system where many of us still have our children as students.

“ASUU is on strike in order to restore the past glory of public universities and address infrastructural decay and deficit in our institutions.

“ASUU is on strike for the legitimate dues of its members who are the least paid in the tertiary education sub-sector,” Mr. Adejumo said.

The university don said ASUU is actually tired of having a circus show of talks but in the interest of the students and the Nigerians at large, we still continue to hold meetings upon meetings.

“Government should also speed up the process of testing the integrity of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) so that it can be deployed for payment beginning from January 2021,” Mr. Adejumo said. “We are ready to suspend the strike as our children too are tired of staying at home but we cannot work on empty stomachs.”

Adejumo said the interest of Nigeria and the future generations was more paramount to ASUU than the immediate gains of its members.

“That is why ASUU has been consistent in challenging the rot in the system through sustained engagements with the powers that be since the time of the military.

“The gains of ASUU struggles are in the changes that TETFund has been able to bring to the tertiary education sector in the country, and ASUU will not relent in pushing for a better university system in the country,” he said.

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