ASUU Strike Continue As Officials Withdraw From Talks With FG

Dr. Nasir Fagge

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced its withdrawal from the negotiations currently ongoing between them and the Federal Government.

The National President of the union,  Dr. Nasir Fagge said on Thursday that the Federal Government has been insincere in the 2009 agreement as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both parties in January 2012.

Speaking at a press briefing held at the University of Lagos, Dr. Nasir Fagge said the 2009 agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding that were signed by both parties must first be honoured, even if ASUU will consider any renegotiation with the government.

"I wish to state clearly our position so far in the whole process of the negotiations with government since the strike commenced.

"We are currently calling on government to meet our demands as presented in the agreements we both signed in 2009 and then we can start talking about any other form of re-negotiation.

"A lot of people are asking us to shift grounds by accepting government's offer of N30 billion and going back to class while we reach an agreement on when the next installments will be paid.

"I do not see that as being acceptable to us for now because we had made that mistake before, whereby only the salary component of the agreement is fully implemented, we are not going to call off this strike.

"Consequently, our members are left with no other choice than to prosecute this strike to it's logical conclusion. ASUU members nationwide are saying this strike will not be suspended until and unless the government respects the 2009 agreement and makes concrete efforts to implement it in the best interest of the country," Dr. Fagge said.

ASUU President added that the meeting which was held on Monday between ASUU and the Federal Government representatives, the government had declared that it neither had any motive to commit fully to the funding of public universities in terms of revitalization, nor was it ready to pay in full the accumulated Earned Allowance owed between 2009 and 2013.