Who blinks first as we enter the
second deadline given by the
Federal Government to ASUU?
As at Sunday morning, it
remains uncertain whether the
Academic Staff Union of Nigeria
Universities would call off its
five-month-old strike, despite
the Government’s Monday
ultimatum. There were
speculations that the university
lecturers would suspend the
strike after the burial ceremony
for their ex-President, Prof.
Festus Iyayi, who was killed in
an accident involving Kogi
State governor’s convoy.
But credible sources inside
ASUU say government is yet to
meet all their demands, strike
continues...
The Chairman, ASUU, University
of Benin, Dr. Tony Monye-
Emina said, “The strike has not
been called off. The authority
(of the institution) is following
government’s directive; we are
not shifting our stand. It is not
a local strike.
“It is not true we are calling off
the strike. How can we be
holding a meeting tonight? The
burial is going on and it
continues tomorrow (today).”
Also, ASUU in Olabisi Onabanjo
University, Ogun State, vowed
not to obey government’s order
that lecturers should return to
classroom on Monday. The
Chairman, ASUU, OOU chapter,
Dr. Nasir Adesola said the
lecturers would not succumb to
threats by government to sack
them.
Adesola, who is also the
South-West Coordinator, ASUU,
stressed that since the
lecturers did not go on strike in
the first instance because of
government, they would not
return to work by coercion from
government.
He stated that the lecturers
would only go back to the
classroom when the
government meet their
demands.
“We didn’t go on strike because
of government order. The
reasons for which we embarked
on the strike have not been
discharged by the government.
Those orders of government are
just part of executive
recklessness. We are not
returning to work on Monday,”
Adesola told Punch.
Similarly, the ASUU Chairman in
Enugu State University of
Technology, Prof. Gab Agu,
said lecturers would not
resume on Monday. He said it
was a rumour that the union
would call of the strike. He
stated that the National
Executive Council of ASUU
would meet and agree before
the strike could be called off.
Same with ASUU in the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka,
where the Chairman, Dr. Ifeanyi
Abada, said only the ASUU NEC
could announce the suspension
of the strike.
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