By Akinwale Kasali
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has shelved it’s plan to embark on a nationwide strike action.
The union had earlier warned the Federal Government that it’s members will downtool if their demands are not met by Tuesday, August 31.
The Chairman of the University of Lagos Chapter of ASUU, who doubles as a member of NEC, Dele Ashiru, made this known on Monday.
Ashiru said ASUU will not embark on industrial strike action yet, stressing that there are processes to follow before before the Union can proceed on strike.
According to Ashiru, “Yes, we gave the Government till the end of this month to meet some demands of ours.
“However, assuming that the demands are not met within the stipulated period, we won’t just begin an industrial action that same day.
“The reason is that ASUU is not a one-man Union, and is not run like a one-man show. If the demands are not met, the National Leadership would call a meeting of NEC and report back to it.
“It is at that NEC meeting that the next step would be decided on. As we talk now, no NEC meeting has been called and so the likelihood of a strike starting on Tuesday is not there.
“Our demands from the government are just three. We want the government to sign and implement the renegotiated agreement we have with them;
“That the Government should also mainstream our Academic Earned Allowances and to pay the N40 billon Revitalisation Fund,” he explained.
Recall that the face-off between the Union and Federal Government led to a nine-month strike by ASUU in 2020.
The strike was called off last December, but the Union claimed that most of the promises made by the Government were yet to be fulfilled.
ASUU demands include the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System, IPPIS, as well as FG’s intervention in the proliferation of Universities, especially by State Governments in the face of poor funding
