STRIKE Update: ASUU vows to continue STRIKE at NEC meeting

Hope of final resolution of the ongoing strike of
the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)
was dashed on Saturday, as the union has
vowed to continue with the industrial action. This was the outcome of the union’s National
Executive Council (NEC) meeting secretly held
in Kano, where it was agreed that the strike
would continue until it got concrete assurance
of implementation of all agreements from the
Federal Government. In a release the union sent to its members and
obtained by Sunday Tribune, it said: “…based on
feedback from branches, the union resolved to
clear some grey areas before any further action.
If we must remove strikes as a regular feature
in our University system, then we must get things sorted out permanently. Be steadfast as
we await next congress meeting.” Attempts by pressmen, who had positioned
themselves at the Bayero University Kano as
early as 7 a.m. yesterday, to get the outcome of
the meeting were unsuccessful, as it was learnt
that the branch chairmen of the union across
the country, which converged on Kano on Friday, had decided not to talk to the media. Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that the
ASUU NEC was still meeting as of 7 p.m.
yesterday, hoping to reach a concrete decision
which it would transmit to other members at
the next congress meeting. According to a source, who spoke to Sunday
Tribune on condition of anonymity, though the
union agreed that the offer by Federal
Government to inject N200 billion into
universities annually, beginning from 2014 and
for the next four years was sensible, members were skeptical about the implementation of all
the agreements reached. “We agreed that the Federal Government’s
offer is sensible but we are not convinced
about its implementation and so we have to
continue the strike so as to fully sort things out
to avoid future strikes,” the source stated. ASUU had embarked on the strike in July,
following the failure of the Federal
Government to implement a 2009 agreement it
entered into with the union, citing the needs to
upgrade the universities to world standards and
improve the condition of service of the lecturers, among others, with the Federal
Government releasing N100billion for the
improvement of universities and N40 billion to
be shared as earned allowance, while
promising to make more funds available. Sunday Tribune, however, gathered that a
fresh crisis might have been set off in the union
over the issue of earned allowance. According to the source, the manner university
management shared the earned allowance
among varsity workers was already causing
disaffection among ASUU members. The
lecturers, it was learnt, felt bitter that their
struggle had only benefited SSANU and NASU which did not participate in the strike but got
hefty returns, “because the managements have
shared the allowance wrongly. “ASUU members got less than they deserved
from the allowance while other unions fed fat
from it; it looks as if we only fought for other
unions. Members are really angry about this,”
he said, noting that these were some of the
issues that would be tabled at the congress of the union later in the week. Other contentious issues, stated the source,
“are the 2009 agreement which is due for re-
negotioation and our salary. We felt that until
these are resolved, it will be futile to call off
the strike. So the strike continues.”