Asuu gives conditions to ends strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) has given three conditions to be
tabled before President Goodluck
Jonathan today. If the terms are
acceptable to the Federal Government,
the union will call off the strike.
The ASUU leadership has banned its local
chapters and zonal chairmen from talking
to the media until after the session with
the President.
ASUU President Dr. Nasir Issa Fagge and
other leaders of the union were being
expected in Abuja last night.
According to a source, who was part of
the ASUU session at Mambayya House in
Kano, the conditions are:
•Commitment from the President that any
review or reconsideration or renegotiation
of the 2009 Agreement will not
substantially affect the pact which is the
cause of the ongoing strike;
•Immediate payment of all outstanding
salary arrears and allowances of varsity
teachers without victimization; and
•A written commitment from the
President that the Federal Government
will commit N225billion annually to the
funding of universities for the next four
years.
There is a fourth condition, which is said
to be “personal” to ASUU, bordering on
the need to be wary of gradual loss of
public sympathy.
The union leaders were said to have
recognised public goodwill for the strike
and the need to avert any action that
could erode such confidence.
The source said: “Our leaders are meeting
with the President on Monday to table
these conditions. Once the President
accepts these three terms, the strike will
be called off.
“In principle, members voted about 60-40
per cent to call off the strike, but they
added a caveat – that ASUU leaders
should extract a commitment (signed and
sealed) from the President.
The union is said to have insisted on the
three conditions because during talks
with the Federal Government, it was
apparent that the government wanted a
renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement.
“If ASUU had accepted to renegotiate the
entire Agreement , it means there will be
no basis for the ongoing strike. The worst
that can happen is either having the
abridged version of the 2009 Agreement
or a phased implementation of the
document,” the source added.
The Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-
Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State became at the
weekend the third institution to break
ranks with the striking union.
It asked its students to return to the
campus today. Lecture are to start on
December 2, according to the Registrar,
Mr. Bamidele Olotu.
Enugu State University of Technology
(ESUT), Enugu, and the Ibrahim
Badamosi University, Lapai, in Niger
State had earlier directed the reopening
of the schools.
The registrar directed students to begin
their registration on the school portal
immediately.
AAUA Student Union President Julius
Adeniyi welcomed the resumption plan
and assured his fellow students of a
hitch-free semester.
He said: “We are dying and wasting away
our time at home; and I am backing my
Vice Chancellor on the resumption date.
We are coming in and nothing will
happen.”