The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella body of all university lecturers has embarked on a one-month warning strike in all Nigerian public universities.
ASUU’s National President, Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, said on Monday after a meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) at the University Of Lagos (UNILAG) that the strike action will be “comprehensive and total.”
“That’s the resolution of the latest NEC meeting held on February 12 and 13. The patience of our members has been dragged beyond tolerable limits.
“The greatest asset of any nation is human capital. We, therefore, seek the understanding and support of all stakeholders to make the Nigerian government more responsive to issues of human capital development.”
The strike, which commenced on February 14, is expected to last for an initial period of four weeks.
On November 15, 2021, ASUU issued a three-week ultimatum to the Federal Government over the failure to meet its demands.
The union had embarked on a nine-month strike halting university education in 2020 over the Federal Government failure to fulfill agreements.
The union’s grievances include the government’s refusal to adopt the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software.
Other demands include the endorsement of the renegotiated 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, which it said was concluded in May 2021; release of the reports of visitation panels to federal universities, and distortions in salary payment challenges.
ASUU is also demanding funding for the revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, improved funding of state universities and payment of promotion arrears.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently assured that his administration would honour its agreements with the union to prevent incessant strikes in the education sector.
“My administration is committed to this engagement and dialogue, and I urge them to stay the course towards a joint resolution in the best interest of our children and nation,” he said.