ASUU extends strike by 12 weeks

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced that it would continue its ongoing strike action which has paralyzed academic activities in the nation’s universities by another 12 weeks.

The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the Union’s National Executive Council (NEC) held at ASUU Secretariat in Abuja, which had in attendance principal officers and branch chairmen of the union and lasted from Sunday night till early Monday morning when the decision was announced.

ASUU had, on March 14, declared a two month rollover strike which was to elapse on May 9th, and with the issues that led to the strike not yet resolved by the Federal Government, the ASUU NEC has thus extended the strike by 12 weeks after other strikes failed to cause the government to address the issues.

The implication of the extension of the strike is that public universities would still remain closed for the foreseeable future.

In the statement entitled ‘Update on ASUU roll-over strike,’ and signed by ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the union said it was embarking on the new rollover strike to give the government ample time to resolve all outstanding issues that led to the strike in the first place.

The ASUU statement reads:

“The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held an emergency meeting on Sunday, 8th May 2022, at the Comrade Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, Abuja.

“The meeting was called to review developments since the Union declared an eight-week total and comprehensive roll-over strike action at the end of its emergency NEC meeting at the Comrade Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, Abuja on 14th March, 2022.

Read also: Universities to stay shut as ASUU mulls indefinite strike, says govt not serious

“The strike action came on the heels of the government’s failure to satisfactorily implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with the Union in December 2020 on renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), funding for revitalization of public universities (both Federal and States), proliferation and governance issues in State Universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries (owed for over 20 months in some cases), and Non-emittance of third-party deductions.

“NEC was equally disappointed that ASUU’s only meeting with the Professor Nimi Briggs-led Renegotiation Committee did not reflect the expected level of understanding, preparation and clarity that undergird collective bargaining going by the Committee’s confession of “going about consulting stakeholders”.

“Unless urgent steps are taken to redirect the Committee on concluding a draft Agreement that has been pending since May 2021, its activities may end up as another wild goose chase.

“After extensive deliberations, noting government’s failure to live up to its responsibilities and speedily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) within the additional eight-week roll–over strike period declared on 14th March 2022, NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for twelve weeks to give government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.

“The roll-over strike action is with effect from 12.01 a.m. on Monday, 9th May 2022.

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