Strike Gets Another Extension As NEC Says Government is Not Sincere.
The industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU gets another 4 Weeks extension after the NEC decided not to suspend the ongoing strike action after its meeting in Abuja.
The meeting which was believed to serve as an opportunity to brief It’s a national executive body on the progress made thus far and also do give the next line of action with regards to the continuation of the strike was held in Abuja and is believed not have any consideration for suspending the ongoing strike, the union only briefed the meeting on their interactions and submissions made to the Prof. Nimi Briggs Committee set up the Federal Government to renegotiate the 2009 Agreement with the union. A source within the leadership of the association revealed that the meeting also had briefings about the intervention of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in the matter and the subsequent nationwide solidarity rallies held by the Congress and its affiliates last week.
He said “Since there is no sign of any serious commitment on the part of the government, there was no need for the NEC to consider suspending the strike. Can anybody say this is what the government is offering? They were the ones who set up the Briggs Committee and it made recommendations and the government jettisoned the report.”
He also added, “The government is not sincere. Let us assume that we are asking too much, which is not even the situation, is it not that the government will come out with its offers and we will deliberate whether to accept or not? We have been saying that they want to kill the university system just as they did in public primary and secondary schools.
Recall that ASUU declared a 1-month warning Strike on 14th February 2022 and had gotten several rollovers which have shut the lecturers and students out for more than 5 months.
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