The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged its members nationwide to remain steadfast with the union during the ongoing industrial action, stating that progress is being made.
This is as the union also informed its members that the government representatives on the renegotiation committee, led by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Yayale Ahmed, have “returned to the negotiation table with a documented response to our demands and made some offers to the union.”
But the union ignored the invocation of the “no work, no pay” policy by the Nigerian government, even as the Education Minister, Tunji Alausa, has ordered the university vice-chancellors to open attendance registers for lecturers on their various campuses to monitor those who fail to resume work.
In a bulletin issued on Sunday and personally signed by its National President, Chris Piwuna, a professor, ASUU thanked its members and various stakeholders, who it noted, have intervened in the impasse.
It listed some of the issues receiving attention to include the third-party deductions, Earned Academic Allowance, and confiscation of landed property of Yakubu Gowon University (formerly University of Abuja), among others.
“Progress is being recorded in certain areas such as the release of third-party deductions, arrears of promotions, mainstreaming of EAA, confiscation of UNIABUJA land, and victimisation of our members in KSU, LASU and FUTO,” the bulletin reads in part.
ASUU had embarked on a 14-day warning strike beginning from Monday, 13 October, over unresolved issues of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, mainstreaming of earned academic allowance, non-remittance of third-party deductions of its members, among other issues.
It also accused the government of insincerity over the unending conversations on the renegotiation of the agreement since 2017, saying the successive administrations had taken the union’s maturity and understanding for granted.
However, following the declaration of the industrial action, the Minister of Education, Mr Alausa, a medical doctor, accused ASUU of not cooperating with the government, saying his genuine commitment to addressing the lingering issue was being taken for granted.
He, therefore, threatened the invocation of the “no work, no pay” rule, even as he ordered the vice-chancellors of public universities to mark attendance of academic staff who resumed work during the strike.
ASUU urged its members not to lose focus, saying the strike coordination committee at the national level met on Saturday, 18 October, to review the one-week-old strike, and commended everyone for the compliance level.
It also informed its members that the appropriate committee of the Nigerian Senate have waded in, and that other stakeholders, including prominent Nigerians, have intervened towards addressing the issue.
DevReporting
