Universities Strike Looms, As ASUU Mobilises Over Disagreement with Federal Govt

The Universities Communities have been sensitized with a impeding strike across the universities in the country as the some lecturers yesterday shunned the classrooms in compliance with the lecture-free day declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Gentechnews gathered that the lecture free-day which was declared by the Union to sensitise the universities and the public on its impending strike was observed by most universities in the country.

This development snowballed few days after President Muhammadu Buhari gave an assurance that his administration would fulfill the agreement with the ASUU.

According to the Union, the lecture-free day became necessary following the federal government’s failure to honour the agreement reached in December 2020 by both parties which prompted the suspension of the 9-month prolonged strike embarked on at the time.

The Union said it would use the day to sensitise students, parents and other stakeholders on the impending crisis arising from the federal government’s alleged failure to judiciously implement existing agreements.

The Union said it was tired with the insincerity of the present administration in fully implementing the agreements .

The Union’s chairman and secretary, Dr Biodun Olaniran and Dr Toyin Abegunrin respectively, said after the agreements were reached, the government had refused to sign what would make the welfare of lecturers better.

The ASUU leaders declared that promises being made all the time cannot replace the implementation of the agreement.

Accordingly, they said the union members have resolved to embark on an indefinite strike since the government was not ready to do the needful.

The Union urged Nigerians to prevail on the government to avert the impending strike, stressing that the government was portraying the union as a dog which can only bark and not bite.

“Our union, ASUU, is using this medium to call upon the Federal Government of Nigeria once again to implement the agreement it has signed with ASUU. It is unfortunate to mention that the government signed an agreement with the ASUU since 2009 but the agreement is not implemented till date,” the Union said.

Meanwhile, most of the Universities where the Union have their members complied with ASUU’s lecture-free directive.

However, some Universities where ASUU do not have members ignore the directive, as well as those currently writing examinations did not observe the day.

Pundits are of the view that this ASUU strike has been distorting the academic calendar of the public Universities and the Private Universities are far ahead of the public ones.

Peter Ajayi, a public Commentator said “It is high time these strikes are stopped. Government should do the needful by paying the lecturers their entitlements. The issue of ASUU insisting on their own template called University Transparency Accountability Solutions, (UTAS) for their salary instead of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System; (IPPIS) which all government establishments are being paid should be jettisoned because they cannot pay themselves, except the same government that introduced IPPIS.

“Recall, some Universities Lecturers are teaching in more than three Universities and collecting emoluments from them, so they should trend softly and not mortgage the future of our children because they are the ones that are churning out the so called half-baked graduates. Some are even working in the interest of the private Universities where no strikes are, but how many Nigerians can afford to send their wards to private Universities where students are made to pay millions of Naira in each section.”

Ajayi noted that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has lost its flavour of yester-years, as it now stands aloof on issues affecting the public Universities, especially this impasse between ASUU and the Federal Government.