ASUU denies media reports union agreed to call off 8-month-old strike action

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has denied media reports that the union agreed to call off its 8-month-old strike action.

There was a bit of relief when news emerged that the strike action has been called off, after the latest meeting between ASUU’S top echelons and the Federal Government negotiation team led by the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, on Friday.

In a telephone call BusinessDay made to the union president, Biodun Ogunyemi, over the weekend for clarity, Ogunyemi said he was not aware of any agreement to call off the strike.

However, Ogunyemi noted that it was agreed at the meeting that the union would convey government’s message to their various organs and then report back to the government.

He said, “I am not aware of that. All I know is that we had a meeting and we are going to report to our members. But, I don’t know about suspension of the strike. We are consulting through our various organs.”

It was also reported that ASUU reached an agreement with the Federal Government after the latter increased its offer for Earned Allowances and funding for the revitalisation of public universities from N65 billion to N70 billion.

However, ASUU insists that the funding should be implemented before the union suspends its strike action.

ASUU embarked on strike in March 2020, following its disagreement with the Federal Government over the funding of the universities and implementation of the IPPIS, which according to the union, negates the autonomy policy for the universities.

ASUU, however, has its own developed and preferred payment platform, University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), which the government said it was looking into.