Strike: ASUU To Consider FG’s Offer At NEC Meeting On Monday

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, will meet its National Executive Council, or NEC, on Monday of the next week to vote on the Federal Government’s offers to terminate its current strike.

The meeting seemed to be pivotal and might decide whether the government would actually fire the union as planned.

This is in line with what a member of the NEC privately stated to Vanguard, namely that whatever the union’s choice was, it would be in the system’s best interest.

When reached, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the national president of ASUU, stated that his union had not yet received any official offers from the government.

“We have been negotiating with them through collective bargaining and whatever they have should not be made to us on the pages of newspapers. It should be done the way it is expected to be done. Our main problem with the government is that there is a trust deficit. They will say something and will do another thing.

“After the Memorandum of Action was signed last year with them, they were supposed to pay some money in two tranches starting from August last year, but they did not do the needful.

As for other unions suspending their actions, ASUU is not a one-man show, we will look collectively at whatever is presented to us. But as of now, nothing has been officially offered,” he said.

However, according to reports the union decides to continue the strike, the upcoming NEC meeting might result in the FG taking harsh action against the union.

Recall that the strike, which began on February 14 and was extended three weeks ago for a further four weeks, will end on Monday.

Non-teaching staff have already ceased their industrial activities and are scheduled to start working again on Wednesday this week under the auspices of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions, NASU.

Recall that the strike, which began on February 14 and was extended three weeks ago for a further four weeks, will end on Monday.

ASUU is the sole university staff union remaining on strike as the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, is convening its NEC meeting this Thursday and will likewise cease its action.

This comes as parents have urged ASUU to accept the government’s proposals first while unresolved issues are being handled, under the auspices of the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN.

Although the aspirations of the striking employees may not be entirely satisfied, the National President, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, stated in a conversation with our correspondent on Monday that it is preferable to have something to cling onto than nothing.

“I have got information about what the government is offering, regarding salaries and payment of allowances. As our children have been at home for all this while, their future is of the essence. The Briggs Committee proposed a higher salary, in the region of over one million naira monthly for a professor, but what is being offered is short of that. The truth is that all sides cannot get everything they want.

“We are losing lecturers to other nations, while valuable time is wasted on strike. There will always be a mid-course to take and my suggestion is that ASUU should take the offers first while other issues are being sorted out,” he counselled.

A report monitored by Touchaheart on Vanguared, Monday that the FG is ready to release the money to revitalize the universities, pay Earned Academic Allowance, and also jerk up the salaries of the workers a bit.

It is hoped that the union would accept the offers and avoid being proscribed as being contemplated.