ASUU Suspends 8-Month-Old Strike, Says Issues Not ‘Satisfactorily Addressed’

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Friday called off its eight-month-old strike.

However, the union in a press statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer noted that the issues in its disputes with the Federal Government were not well addressed.

The press release, which was signed by the National President of the union, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, however, hailed the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

The statement partly read, “ The National Executive Council of ASUU held an emergency meeting at the Comrade Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, Abuja, on Thursday, October 13, 2022”.

The union in its statement further noted that the Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Chris Ngige, took the striking lecturers to court.

“The National Industrial Court, in its wisdom, gave an order compelling ASUU to resume work pending the determination of the substantive suit. Given the nature of the order, and in the opinion of our counsel, there was the need to appeal the interlocutory injunction granted against our union at the Court of Appeal.

“The Court of Appeal acknowledged the validity of the grounds of the union’s appeal but still upheld the order of the lower court and ordered our union to comply with the ruling of the lower court as condition precedent for the appeal to be heard.

“NEC noted the series of meetings with the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Hon. Speaker, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as intervention efforts of other well-meaning Nigerians both within and outside the government and the progress made so far.”

Speaking further on the status of negotiations, the union said, “While appreciating the commendable efforts of the leadership of the House of Representatives and other patriotic Nigerians who waded into the matter, NEC noted with regrets that the issues in dispute were yet to be satisfactorily addressed.

“However, as a law-abiding union and in deference to appeals by the President Muhammadu Buhari, and in recognition of the efforts of Hon. Gbajabiamila, and other well-meaning Nigerians, ASUU NEC resolved to suspend the strike action embarked upon on February 14, 2022. Consequently, all members of ASUU are hereby directed to resume all services hitherto withdrawn with effect from 12:01 on Friday, October 14, 2022.”

The Issues

ASUU has been on strike since February 14 this year.

When the lecturers began the strike – initially a four-week industrial action – ASUU said it was pushing for better funding of universities as well as improved welfare for its members based on several deals reached with the government.

ASUU was particularly asking for the release of the revitalisation funds for schools, the payment of earned academic allowances to members, and the release of whitepapers from the reports of the presidential visitation panels. It also demanded the usage of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a payment platform for university workers as against the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

Following the Federal Government and ASUU’s inability to reach a deal, the union kept extending the industrial action before making it indefinite in August.

In the wake of the tussle, the Federal Government registered two factional unions – the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA).

But ASUU had said it was not bothered about the government’s move, describing it as “illegal”.