Strike: ASUU reveals when universities will resume on one condition

The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has said that the union may resume accademic session on Tuesday, July 5 if the Federal Government meet its conditions.

Osodeko who made this known while speaking in an interview on Channel Television’s Politics Today on Monday night said the 140 days industrial action will end immediately if the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government addresses their concerns.

He, however, said that the strike will continue unless the FG accepts the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and honour the 2009 agreement.

According to him, an agreement had been reached with the government, but it has not been signed, adding that ASUU’s insistence on using their own generated payment platform, UTAS, is a key demand.

He said, “As far as ASUU is concerned, the strike can end tomorrow. We have finished the negotiation. If the government calls us now to come and sign the agreement, we will be there tomorrow.

“Let the government tell us they have finished testing the UTAS and we have accepted it, then we will call off the strike.

“When will they sign the agreement? When will they accept UTAS? Those are the two questions we should ask the Nigerian government.”

It could be recalled that the ASUU Strike which started on February 14, 2022, has entered its 140th day on Monday, July 4, 2022.

The lecturers’ union has been at loggerheads with the federal government, citing the refusal of the latter to honour the 2009 agreement it entered with the Union.

” Its demands in the agreements include the condition of service of University lecturers to be reviewed every five years, issue of salaries and allowances, and revitalisation of public universities, among other issues.

Independent NG