The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its pending demands as contained in the agreements between both parties or it shall embark on a fresh strike action.
They made this known in a statement on Wednesday where the president, Professor Emmanuel Osodoke, accused the federal government of not showing commitment to executing the agreements with the union, some of which date as far back as 2009.
He urged the government to pay the withheld salaries due to the 2022 strike action and stop exhibiting delay tactics. He said if the demands are not satisfactorily met in two weeks, its members would embark on a strike which would in turn cripple academic activities in the nation’s public universities.
The University academic union is also seeking the conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement based on the Nimi Briggs Committee’s Draft Agreement of 2021. The statement partly read:
“In view of the foregoing, ASUU resolves to give the Nigerian Government another 14 days, in addition to the earlier 21 days, beginning from Monday, September 23, 2024, during which all the lingering issues must have been concretely addressed to the satisfaction of the membership of the union.
“The union should not be held responsible for any industrial disharmony that arises from the government’s failure to seize the new opportunity offered by ASUU to nip the looming crisis in the bud,”
ASUU is also demanding the release of unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments affected by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and the payment of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions.
Its demands also include funding for the revitalization of public universities, partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government Budget, and the payment of Earned Academic Allowances partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government Budget.
Other grievances of ASUU are the proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments, the implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities, the reversal of the illegal dissolution of Governing Councils, and the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as a replacement for IPPIS.
ASUU had embarked on a previous strike which lasted 8 months in 2022 and grounded academic activities of students.
