Latest ASUU News On Resumption, ASUU Strike Update Today, 29 June 2022

THE Federal Government through the Ministry of Labour and employment, Sunday gave insight into why no unions in the nation’s university system education were invited to last Thursday’s meeting.

FG stated that the meeting was to assess the progress made so far on addressing the few outstanding demands of the striking university workers, such as the contentious payment platform and the renegotiation of their conditions of service.

In a statement by Head, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, lamented that the combative and several unfounded allegations by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU against the government, particularly, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, saying, “all insinuations that the Ministry of Labour does not sympathise with the students, unions and parents, of which the Minister is one, should be disabused.

It noted that “ASUU should know that we are arbitrators and conciliators. We cannot manufacture agreements. Regardless, we are not constrained from listening to the government side and pushing them to do their own bit as quickly as possible.”

FG Reveals When ASUU Strike Will Be Called Off

FG has revealed when the ASUU strike will be called off. Newsone reports that the Federal Government of Nigeria on Wednesday, June 22, said the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities would soon be called off.

ASUU latest news on resumption

We’re not beggars, hunger won’t force us to resume, ASUU tells FG

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said its members are not beggars and the stoppage of their salaries by the government won’t force them to call off their strike.

The leadership of the union also commended the members for keeping faith with the union despite the hardship imposed on their families as a result of the No-Work-No-Pay directive of the Federal Government.

Following the failure of the government to meet some lingering demands of the union, ASUU on February 14, 2022, announced a one-month warning strike, followed by another eight-week strike before it eventually commenced its indefinite strike.

The continued strike led to the imposition of No-Work-No-Pay by the Federal Government. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said the directive was in compliance with Section 43 of the Labour Law.

ASUU strike: Pass no-confidence vote in Buhari, HURIWA tells NASS

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has called on the National Assembly to pass a vote of no confidence on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

According to the group, the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which began on February 14, has endangered the security of the country with students being out of classrooms.

This was contained in a statement signed by the National Coordinator, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Wednesday, which noted that students could have been recruited to commit crimes such as terrorism, banditry, Internet fraud, prostitution, and drug trafficking.

The statement read in part, “We call on the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari for letting the ASUU strike linger thereby endangering national security. Everyone knows an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. This is why it is not imaginable that some undergraduate youths would have gone into sophisticated crimes such as kidnappings, cultism, terrorism, and drug trafficking, amongst others.

“The government’s inability to resolve the industrial crisis in the public universities whereby over 70 per cent of youths attend because they are from poor backgrounds is a direct declaration of war on the youths.

“HURIWA, therefore, urged the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to be a man now that he couldn’t get his promised presidential candidacy from the cabal in Aso Rock. He should do the needful and etch his name on the sands of time by impeaching the President.”

ASUU strike: NANS seeks swift resolution

The Coordinator of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Zone B,  Ekanem Utibe, has urged the Federal Government to accede to the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and ensure students return to school.

Strike: We’re waiting to hear from FG, says ASUU

The striking Academic Staff Union of Universities has said it is awaiting the response of the Federal Government on its demands.

Newsone had reported that the Federal Government’s renegotiation committee headed by Prof. Nimi Briggs met with ASUU leadership on Monday in continuation of the renegotiation of the FGN-ASUU 2009 agreements with the four university unions, which are all currently on strike.

The President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, told our correspondent that the meeting was fair, saying they were expecting the government to respond to the issues they discussed with the committee.

When asked if ASUU would call the strike off soon since it had a fair deliberation with Briggs committee, Osodeke said, ‘‘I don’t know if we are calling off the strike soon. We are waiting for the final response from the government.

“It is a committee of different government agencies. They need to go back to their principal and look at what we agreed on and then get back to us. When they respond to us, we will give you full details.”

He revealed that University Transparency and Accountability Solution is still undergoing test by National Information Technology Development Agency, adding that ASUU has had three meetings with the Federal Government’s committee.

Osodeke also said there was no new invitation from the committee.

He said, “They will call us when they are ready for another meeting, but none for now. We have had about three meetings with them.’’

Strike: ASUU to sanction non-complying chapters

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to query universities that have failed to comply with its decision to remain on strike while negotiations with the Federal Government continue.

ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

Newsone recalls that ASUU had been on strike for the past five months to press home its demands.

The striking lecturers’ demands include funding of the revitalisation of public universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution and promotion arrears.

Others are the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement and the inconsistency in Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.

NAN, however, reports that since the union embarked on strike, some of its members have pulled out of the ongoing strike to resume their academic activities.

But Osodeke said, “We will punish those who have pulled out from our ongoing strike the appropriate way.

“We will ensure we query them and we will follow it up the appropriate way. We have even queried some of them in accordance with the union’s rules.”

Drama As ASUU President Rejects N50m Intervention To End Strike

There was a mild drama when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) rejected Berekete Family radio’s intervention to end the ongoing strike.

ASUU has been on strike since February and all efforts to make lecturers return to the classrooms have not yielded results.

On Saturday morning, host of the radio programme, Ahmad Isah, popularly known as Ordinary President, invited ASUU president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, and his team, to explain to Nigerians the perennial problems and state why the union is still on strike.

Isah also said he had set up a special intervention bank account domiciled in TAJ Bank to raise funds for the union, with a view to ending the strike.

Apparently to convince ASUU to buy into the idea of the intervention, Isah publicly showed the N50 million cash donated by Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State.

Immediately the money was displayed, ASUU President frowned at the development, saying they should not be associated with such.

At that point, Isah threatened to discontinue the intervention and many Nigerians who phoned in during the programme described ASUU as ”insensitive”.

Latest ASUU News On Resumption 29 June 2022

Government Suspends ASUU, SSANU, NASU, ASUP Over Strike

Government has suspended ASUU, SSANU, NASU, ASUP over ongoing strike.

Flippstack reports that the Edo State Government on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, suspended union activities in all state-owned tertiary institutions of higher learning in the state.

This online news platform understands that the decision was Peeved by Tuesday’s protest in Benin by students of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma over the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions.

A statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Osarodion Ogie after a State Executive Council meeting in Benin sighted by Flippstack Nigeria, listed the affected unions as ASUU, Non-Academic Staff of Universities (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Non-Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and all allied unions in state-owned tertiary institutions.

The statement noted, “By this notice, academic activities are to resume in all state-owned institutions and all cadre of staff are directed to report to their duty posts immediately.

NLC Urges FG To End Strike By ASUU, Other

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to end the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other university-based unions.

The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made the call in his contributions to the report of the Director-General, International Labour Organisation, during the 110th International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

The conference which opened on Tuesday has the theme: “Social justice, decent work”.

According to Wabba, the NLC has written to the Federal Government on how to end the universities’ workers’ strike.

“We call on the government to bring this strike to an end without further delay,” he said.

Varsity unions, FG renegotiation committee sitting ends today

The university unions’ and  Federal Government renegotiation committee sitting will end today.

The Federal Government on March 7, 2022, inaugurated a seven-person committee tasked with the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the other three unions including, The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and The National Association of Academic Technologists.

The committee which was chaired by Pro-Chancellor, Alex Ekweme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs was given three months to conclude the renegotiation with ASUU and other unions.

According to ASUU and SSANU national presidents, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke and Mr Mohammed Ibrahim respectively, the Briggs committee has been meeting with the various unions since May 2022 to renegotiate their agreements. Latest ASUU News On Resumption 29 June 2022

Strike: ASUU mulls concessions on main demands

With about 72 hours to the time limit, the Federal Government gave the Prof. Nimi Briggs Committee to conclude negotiation with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, there are indications that the union may make some concessions in its demands from the government.

Checks by Vanguard, yesterday, showed that this followed the progress being made in the meetings between the committee and the leadership of the union.

Though the concessions may not include overlooking the demands that have financial implications, the union could give more time to the government to meet some demands. A source told our correspondent that both parties still met on Saturday, as the deadline given to the Briggs Committee to conclude its assignment would lapse mid-week.

He said: “Demands that have financial implications such as the payment of Earned Academic Allowance, Revitalisation Fund, the payment of withheld salaries are not negotiable. There are some areas we may shift grounds but until it is officially done, let us wait.

“Our children and wards are affected too by the strike. How much do we earn to send them abroad or to private universities here?

“We are not insensitive to the welfare of our students and the anxiety of parents. It is the government that is not getting its priorities right. Education is a vital sector that should not be left to rot,” he said.

I won’t release subvention if you don’t pull out of ASUU strike – Makinde tells LAUTECH lecturers

We’re Still On Strike, Let Your Children Still Be At Home, ASUU LAUTECH Tells Parents

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso branch, has insisted that as far as the lecturers at the state-owned university are concerned, they are still on strike and therefore would not engage in any academic activities until they receive a directive from the national body of the union to do otherwise.

The chairman of the union at the branch, Dr Biodun Olaniran, reaffirmed this position in an exclusive interview with Sunday Tribune.

According to him, academic staff members at LAUTECH are fully participating in the ongoing industrial action as declared by the national body of our union and so shall we continue to stay away from classrooms until the strike is called off also by the national body. Latest ASUU News On Resumption 29 June 2022

ASUU-AAU admonishes varsity management on dialogue to end strike