Strike: No End In Sight As ASUU, Nigerian Government Refuse To Shift Grounds

There seems to be no end in sight to the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as the Federal Government and the union Thursday stuck to their guns. 

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, told State House reporters in Abuja that President Muhammadu Buhari rejected a report he submitted on the lecturers’ demand for payment of their salaries during the six-month strike period. 

ASUU has been on strike since February 14 over government’s failure to implement its demands on salaries and allowances of lecturers, improved funding for universities and the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) against the government’s preferred payment platform, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS)

Speaking at the 47th session of the State House briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team, Adamu noted that the implementation of the government no-work-no-pay policy was the only condition delaying the truce with ASUU.

“All contentious issues between the government and ASUU had been settled except the quest for members’ salaries for the period of strike be paid, a demand that Buhari has flatly rejected,” he said.

The minister explained that the request was rejected to curb the excesses of trade unions that wanted to be paid for work not done.

He said Buhari’s position had been communicated to ASUU.

Reacting in an interview with Daily Trust, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said: ‘’When they say they’re not going to pay our salaries during the strike, fine! Whenever we resume, if it’s one year’s time, all those admissions JAMB has done, we have two sets of JAMB waiting that we’re going to teach, they’ll cancel them and we start afresh completely. Let’s see how Nigerians will react to them.” 

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Paul Ananaba, in a chat with Daily Trust, said no law backs the no-work-no-pay policy, arguing that the striking ASUU was exercising its fundamental right.

He said: “The pronouncement of the policy is not law.”

-Dailytrust