Strike Continues Until FG Addresses Our Demands –ASUU

Adefioye Iyunade

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has vowed to sustain its ongoing strike action until the Federal Government addresses all its demands.

ASUU President, Prof  Biodun Ogunyemi, who stated this at the University of Port Harcourt  during an interactive session with critical stakeholders to explain the struggles of the union, said ASUU was asking the Federal Government to implement the 2012 universities’ needs assessment it conducted, adding that the union’s demands were genuine and in the interest of the nation.

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He added that it was saddening that Nigerian university lecturers were still on the same salary scale of 2009, stressing that this must be addressed before ASUU would suspend its ongoing strike.

Ogunyemi stated, “Salary issues are still there; we have not fully addressed that. It appears that some forces in government are bent on making our members to suffer by withholding their salaries. But we believe that once we sort out the issues of the Universities’ Transparency and Accountability Solution, other issues will fall in place.

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“The 2009 agreement we had with the government stipulates that that agreement will be reviewed every three years, but since then, we have not been able to review the salary scale.

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“That is why we are saying that the negotiation we started with the government in 2017 ought to have been completed and with the completion of that negotiation process, a new salary scale should be in place.

“We are insisting that the process is completed before this ongoing strike is suspended among other things.”