FG Pleads With ASUU To Shelve Proposed Strikes

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Federal Government has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to shelve its planned nationwide strike, saying that there are plans to address the plights of the union.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated this in a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, saying that President Bola Tinubu has demanded that every effort be made to stop the planned industrial action and also disclosed that the reconstituted Mahmud Yayale Ahmed Expanded Negotiation Committee will meet with the aggrieved unions soon to resolve lingering issues.

“Mr President has directed that we should do everything humanly possible to avert the strike, and that’s what we’ve been working on behind the scenes,” Alausa said.

“People at the highest levels of government have been working several hours intensely to get a robust but affordable response back to our trade unions.

“These are issues that have existed for 10 to 15 years, but this President has given us the political will to resolve them once and for all,” he added.

Last week, ASUU issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its seven-point demands or the union would go on industrial action.

The union’s demands include the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, sustainable funding and revitalisation of universities, a stop to the victimisation of ASUU members at Lagos State University (LASU), Kogi State University (now Prince Abubakar Audu University), and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO).

Other demands include the payment of outstanding 25–35 per cent salary arrears, promotion arrears which has spanned over four years, and unresolved third-party deductions.

However, Dr Alausa disclosed that the government has already addressed most of the issues raised by ASUU.

“Eighty per cent of their demands have been met, and only about 20 per cent remain outstanding,” he said, remarking that the government remains committed to maintaining industrial harmony in the nation’s universities.

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