ANY new disruption in the academic calendar due to industrial actions by university-based unions will escalate the crisis in the university system. This must be stopped at all costs. In this, the Academic Staff Union of Universities recently handed a 21-day strike notice to the Federal Government.
This was one of the decisions of ASUU’s leadership during its National Executive Council meeting at the University of Ibadan from August 17 to August 18. ASUU’s national president, Emmanuel Osodeke, said the federal and state governments have refused to address the issues that prompted ASUU’s previous strikes. This is unfortunate.
He said the NEC received “alarming reports” on the failed promises the government made during the 2022 strike. He rejected the “slow pace of the intervention” by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, in resolving those issues. Osodeke cited the review and signing of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, the demand for impactful funding, and the need for an emergency revitalisation fund for public universities.
He cited the payment of outstanding earned academic allowances, release of withheld salaries, promotion arrears, and third-party deductions targeted at its members. In the 2009 agreement of N1.2 trillion, the Federal Government committed to servicing it with N200 billion annually.
This did not happen, forcing a renegotiation under President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012. President Bola Tinubu should pay up instead of splurging on jet.