ASUU mulls suspension of strike, schedules emergency meeting for Thursday

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has fixed an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting for Thursday, October 13, 2022.

The meeting is to review “recent developments” concerning the union’s ongoing strike.

In preparation for the national meeting which will hold in Abuja, the union directed its zonal branches to collate the views of members through vote in the meetings expected to hold on Wednesday, October 12 in its various zones across the country.

Persecondnews gathered that outcome of the meeting may result in the suspension of the eight-month-old strike.

ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, had earlier dismissed reports making the rounds on the social media that the strike has been called off.

He said ASUU was working towards the suspension of the strike, adding that the suspension would be depend on the decisions of members from the zonal meetings.

On Monday, human rights lawyer and counsel to ASUU, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) had on hinted that the union would soon call off its strike following the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila.

Persecondnews recalls that ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022 to press home their demands which include the revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAS, promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, and adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the government as the payment system in the university sector.

Several meetings between ASUU and the federal government had deadlocked, thereby forcing the federal government to file a suit against the union at the Industrial Court by way of referral in order to resolve the issue of the ongoing strike.

Also in a related development, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, last week ordered the striking lecturers to resume work with immediate effect.

The appellate court’s ruling followed an application by ASUU seeking court’s permission to appeal against the order of the National Industrial Court, which also ordered the striking lecturers to return to work.