THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has stated that it dreads embarking on strike it only deploys it as a last resort only when all other means must have failed. The Lagos Zone of ASUU made this known when it also called on Nigerians to engage the Nigerian government on issues it said are currently threatening the industrial peace in Nigeria’s public universities.
The coordinator of the Lagos zone of ASUU, Dr Adelaja Odukoya, while addressing a press conference at the University of Lagos, Akoka, on Tuesday said the government’s refusal to listen to the union and address issues it had agreed to address in the 2020 Memorandum of Action, is drawing the line of strike.
According to Dr Odukoya, the government should be held responsible should ASUU decide to embark on another round of strikes, which he noted could happen in no distant time.
The union is at the verge of embarking on another indefinite strike as its National Executive Council (NEC) had directed its various chapters to set aside a day to sensitise and mobilise Nigerians for its fight of saving the university system from collapsing.
“It becomes very important and germane to address this press conference to sensitise the public and express the concerns of our union about the refusal of the federal government to sign and implement the renegotiated 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), funding of state universities, non-payment of withheld salaries, checkoff dues and promotion arrears,” the text of the press conference reads in part.
Many public universities had this week already convened the lecture-free day to hold conversations on the issues around which ASUU is warming up for the indefinite strike, which is the failure or refusal of the federal government to implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) that led to the suspension of its nine-month prolonged strike in 2020.
