Tells FG to stop misinterpreting facts
THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that it will resume its nationwide strike if its demands are not met by the Federal Government at the expiration of its one-month ultimatum.
ASUU, Kano zonal coordinator, Abdulkadir Muhammad, gave the warning on Tuesday in Kano during a news conference after the zone`s meeting.
The lecturers, in October, suspended their warning strike with a month-long ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands which centred on their welfare and providing conducive teaching and learning environment.
Muhammad decried what he described as a sluggish approach to renegotiating key agreements aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s public university system.
The meeting had representatives from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Bayero University Kano (BUK), Kaduna State University (KASU).
Others were Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology (ADUSTECH), Wudil, Federal University Dutse (FUD), Northwest University (NWU), Kano, and Sule Lamido University (SLUK), Kafin Hausa.
Muhammad said this followed the report presented at ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on November 8 and 9 at Taraba State University.
He said NEC expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the ongoing renegotiation between the union and the government, describing it as a major obstacle to concluding the process meaningfully.
He said the suspension of the strike in October was meant to create an enabling environment and a gesture of goodwill toward Nigerians.
“However, our hope for a holistic and timely resolution of the issues is increasingly being dashed.
“It is unfortunate that some government functionaries employ different tactics to undermine the renegotiation process and misinform the public on the state of our engagements,” he told newsmen.
He said that government had yet to show genuine commitment to improving lecturers’ welfare or addressing the conditions that fuel brain drain in the university system.
Meanwhile, the zonal coordinator of ASUU, Benin zone, Professor Monday Igbafen, who addressed journalists, said the union could no longer ignore what it termed the government’s deliberate distortion of key matters under negotiation.
He accused the Minister of Education and other senior government officials of “insincerity in their handling of negotiations with the union,” warning that their actions continue to undermine efforts toward a transparent and speedy resolution of lingering issues in the university system.
