ASUU strike: UNN, KSUSTA, KASU, others mobilise for industrial action

By Lawrence Njoku (Enugu), AbdulGaniyu Alabi (Kaduna), Ahmdu Baba Idris (Birnin-Kebbi), Collins Osuji (Owerri) and Agosi Todo (Calabar)

11 February 2022   |   3:04 am

UNICAL, FUTO, IMSU, NekPoly students urge FG’s intervention

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) chapter, yesterday, said it has begun full mobilisation of its members for the nationwide strike and only awaiting directives from the national leadership.

It stated this after its congress in Enugu, insisting that it would do everything within its power to help the national leadership to realise the welfare demands of members.

A statement issued after the meeting urged parents, students and members of the public to prevail on the Federal Government to do the needful and fulfill the Memorandum of Action (MoA) with the union on December 23, 2020 to avert the looming nationwide strike.

The statement jointly signed by Chairman the chapter, Comrade Michael Nwokedi, cautioned the government against pushing ASUU back to trenches.

“Our children in public universities have suffered enough, government should do the needful and stop toying with the academic future of Nigeria children. We ask Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government not to push the union into strike again,” he said.

ALSO, the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero (KSUSTA), has hinted that it has started mobilising members for the industrial action.

In a statement issued by its Chairman, Dr. Yale Ibrahim D. in Birnin-Kebbi, ASUU maintained that the aim of the work-free day on February 7, 2022 was to mobilise members and ensure that they comply with the directive of the national leadership.

He also urged the Government to honour the agreement reached and signed with ASUU to avert impending strike action.
BESIDES, ASUU chapter of the Kaduna State University (KASU), has charged the Federal Government to honour the agreement it reached with the union in 2020 to avert the impending industrial action.

In a statement issued by Chairman and Secretary ASUU at the institution, Dr. Peter Adamu and Mustapha Jumare, the union decried the worsening living conditions of the average Nigerian lecturer in the face of ever-rising inflation.

They said the slavish salary of lecturers could no longer take them home resulting in most of them grappling with one form of misery or the other.

IN a related development, the University of Calabar (UNICAL) chapter of ASUU, yesterday, staged solidarity walk with students of the institution over the proposed strike.

It accused the Federal Government of breaching the agreement signed December 2020 to end the prolonged strike action. Chairman of ASUU at UNICAL, Dr. John Edor, while addressing students, said government had failed in its responsibility to prioritise the education sector, adding that the union was demanding deployment of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) in the payment of lecturers’ salaries.

MEANWHILE, Students of Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri and Federal Polytechnic, Nekede (PolyNek) have urged the Federal Government to intervene and forestall any action capable of disrupting academic activities in the institutions.

Leaders of the students, Chimankpa Orji (IMSU), Godwin Igboanu (PolyNek), Ezinne Nwachukwu, Chinonso Ezeji (FUTO) and others, who spoke with The Guardian on condition of anonymity, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and other critical stakeholders to address the issues between the government and ASUU in the interest of education and the entire country.

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