The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may today declare an indefinite strike in all the public universities across the country. The President of the union, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, is billed to address the media today in Abuja at a yet to be disclosed venue.
This development followed an extensive two-day stakeholders’ meeting which was rounded off yesterday in Abuja, where the report of the earlier referendum among its branches nationwide on whether the strike should be declared or not, was appraised.
The union had on Thursday sent a memo to all its branches seeking their positions on the failure of the Federal Government to implement the contents of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement and 2013 Memorandum of Understanding. According to the mail, ASUU has asked the branches “to decide whether to proceed on two-week warning strike, one-month warning strike, no strike action or total and indefinite strike in the event that the Federal Government fails to satisfactorily address its concerns by Friday August 11, 2017.” The union accused the Federal Government of owing the universities about N880billion intervention fund till date.
Meanwhile, at the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, where the first semester examination for the 2016/2017 academic session is billed to commence today, August 14, a faction of the union had kicked against the strike, saying it was not ready to join.
The faction, otherwise known as OAU ASUU Caretaker Committee, which is headed by Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, said the decision not to join the strike if eventually ASUU declares one, was taken at a congress held on Thursday at the university.
