Olayiwola Matthew
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced the suspension of its ongoing two-week warning strike.
At a media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna said the decision stemmed from the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which was held overnight and ended by 4 am on Wednesday.
Piwuna noted that the union decided to embark on the strike due to the failure of the government to meet its demands on time.
He said: ‘We’ve had useful engagements with representatives of the government to consider the response to the draft renegotiation of the 2009 agreements. However, we are definitely not where we were prior to the commencement of the strike.
‘The union acknowledged that the government returned to the negotiation table. While noting that a lot more work is still required, NEC came to the conclusion that the ongoing strike should be reviewed. The decision to review the strike action was a result of efforts by our students, parents, and the Nigeria Labour Congress.
‘Consequently, NEC resolved to suspend the warning strike to reciprocate the efforts of well-meaning Nigerians’.
ASUU had declared a total and comprehensive warning strike, which started from Monday, 13 October.
The union is demanding the conclusion of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, the release of the withheld three and a half months’ salaries, sustainable funding of public universities, revitalisation of public universities, and cessation of the victimisation of lecturers of Lagos State University, l Prince Abubakar Audu University, and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
Others are payment of outstanding 25-35% salary arrears, payment of promotion arrears for over four years and release of withheld third-party deductions (cooperative contributions, union check-off dues).