By Clifford Akeregha (Education Reporter)
Intense apprehension and concern heightened at the weekend among University students and parents, as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who had declared a one month warning strike on Monday February 14, 2022, continues their deliberation on Sunday to decide, whether or not, the strike should be extended since the Federal government was yet to meet their demands.
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper gathered on Sunday afternoon from a top ASUU source, that the ASUU Executives had been in a closed door meeting in Abuja to review the entire strike situation which has completely paralyzed academic activities in the nation public Universities in the past one month.
The ASUU conclave was occasioned by the fact that there is yet no positive development from the series of meetings held by ASUU and the government to resolve the impasse. The ASUU meeting is holding just a day to the end of its warning strike.
ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, had announced the decision of the union to embark on the one month warning industrial action beginning from Monday, February 14, 2022 to Monday March 14, 2022, to give the federal government sufficient time to resolve issues with the Union.
The Lecturers blamed the strike on the inability of the government to implement the agreement which it entered into with the Federal Government in 2009.
The Union also accused the Government of blocking an alternative payment platform known as UTAS designed by ASUU in place of the IPPIS payment system put in place by the government.
ASUU president, Prof Osodeke said on Saturday that, “Nothing tangible has been done so far. We have met with the Minister of Labour twice.We gave a room for them (NIREC) to intervene and they did. What we see is a lack of will and lack of interest in the public university system.
“The strike didn’t need to last more than one week if the government had taken it seriously. When they had a problem in Ukraine where the sons of the rich were studying, we saw how fast they released money, but in the country where the children of the poor are studying, nothing has been done.”
While the University teachers favour the UTAS payment system, the federal government is insisting on the IPPS, maintaining that UTAS has failed its integrity tests and therefore can not be used as a payment platform to the ASUU members. NNL.
