ASUU Urges Nigerians To ‘Call FG To Order’ To Avoid Another Prolonged Strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has urged concerned Nigerians and lovers of education to prevail on the Federal Government to implement the agreements it reached with the union in order to avert another round of industrial action.

The union said its members were already tired of the alleged insincerity of the Federal Government over the agreements.

The Chairman of ASUU in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Dr Biodun Olaniran and Secretary, Dr Toyin Abegunrin, said this in a statement issued after the congress of the union which was held on Monday.

The union said it had resolved to embark on an indefinite strike should the Federal Government failed to implement the agreements within a specific period of time.

While asking “Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to avert the impending strike’, the union said its decision to give the government enough time to implement the agreements reached with it since 2009 had portrayed it as a toothless bulldog.

The statement read, “Our Union, ASUU, is using this medium to call upon the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria once again to implement the agreement it (FG) has signed with ASUU. It is unfortunate to mention that the FG signed agreement with the ASUU since 2009 but the agreement is not implemented till date.

” The agreement was renegotiated in the name of peace. But to our dismay, the government has refused to sign the renegotiated agreement. In order to make the implementation of the agreement easy for the FG, the union has limited its demand to only three:

Signing/implementation of the renegotiated agreement of 2009. Adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Software (UTAS) instead of the controversial IPPIS.

“Conclusions on these matters have been reached with the government several months ago but yet, the FG is avoiding the final stage of signing the agreement. All the FG was doing is promising all the time. The FG has taken the union for a toothless bulldog that can only bark but cannot bite. We, as a union have taken time to pull the long rope with the government until our patience is completely exhausted.

“Our union is tired of the merry-go-round approach devised by the government about the same issues. We can no longer tolerate the swinging pendulum (with a declining amplitude) attitude the government set for us.

“We have endured enough with such insincerity. We have resolved to embark on indefinite strike action if government failed to yield to our demands within a specified period of time. The union therefore, is using this medium to call on the well-meaning Nigerians and the general public to call the FG to order in this respect, and that it (government) should respect its agreement with ASUU.”