The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that there is no going back on the strike action until the federal government meets its demands.
The President, ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, stated this at the University of Port Harcourt on Saturday during an interactive session with critical stakeholders to explain the struggles of the union.
Ogunyemi said ASUU was asking the Federal Government to implement the 2012 universities’ needs assessment it conducted, adding that the union’s demands were genuine and in the interest of the nation.
He added that it was saddening that Nigerian university lecturers were still on the same salary scale of 2009, stressing that this must be addressed before ASUU would suspend its ongoing strike.
Ogunyemi stated, “Salary issues are still there; we have not fully addressed that. It appears that some forces in government are bent on making our members to suffer by withholding their salaries. But we believe that once we sort out the issues of the Universities’ Transparency and Accountability Solution, other issues will fall in place.
“The 2009 agreement we had with the government stipulates that that agreement will be reviewed every three years, but since then, we have not been able to review the salary scale.
“That is why we are saying that the negotiation we started with the government in 2017 ought to have been completed and with the completion of that negotiation process, a new salary scale should be in place.
“We are insisting that the process is completed before this ongoing strike is suspended among other things.”
The union also sought the support of students in tertiary institutions as its demands are “in their interest and the interest of the nation”.
Speaking via its twitter handle on Monday, ASUU asks Nigerian students to cooperate with the union.
The tweet read, “Students who are our children and partners in progress should show understanding, what we are asking from the government is in their interest and the interest of the nation, good hostel accommodation, good classroom blocks that can engender effective learning, laboratories where cutting edge research can be carried out and offices that can drive the process of quality university education.
“So what we are asking of the government are not baseless things, but those things that in 2012, the government conducted during a needs assessment survey and found out that there is widespread rot and decay in the university system.”
ASUU Chairman Asks Nigerian Students For Their Corporation pic.twitter.com/VXICyd1G8a
— Official_ASUU (@ASUUNGR) August 24, 2020
