Finally, ASUU begins four-week strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday officially declared a nationwide one-month strike.

President of ASUU, Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, announced this during a press conference on Monday after a two-day deliberation of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC).

He said the nationwide strike would be “comprehensive and total”.

Osedeke said, “The NEC of our union has resolved to embark on a four-week total and comprehensive strike beginning from February 14.

“That’s the resolution of latest NEC meeting held on February 12 and 13. The patience of our members have been dragged beyond tolerable limit.

“The greatest asset of any nation is human capital. We therefore seek the understanding and support of all stakeholders to make the Nigerian government more responsible to issues of human capital development.”

According to him, members of the NEC, compassing ASUU leaders across campuses, had been holding meetings since Saturday, the latest of which was at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

ASUU had decided to embark on the two-day meeting after it sensitised and mobilised lecturers and students across all varsities on the reason the union might go on a strike.

The union, which embarked on a nine-month strike that halted university education in 2020, had lamented the failure of the federal government to fulfill some of the agreements they had reached to suspend the industrial action.

It added that the mobilisation for strike followed the federal government’s attitude towards the renegotiation of their salaries and allowances as well as the adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software.