ACADEMIC Staff Unionof Universities, ASUU, has described as
speculative reports that the strike embarked upon by the union
over the inability of the Federal Government to implement the
2009 agreement it willingly entered into with the union would
be called off this Thursday.
National President of ASUU, Dr.Nasir Fagge, told newsmen
that he was surprised to hear that the union was going to call
off the strike on Thursday when the issues tabled before
government had not been resolved.
Faggae said: "There is nothing like that (suspending the strike).
I am also surprised to hear people say that we are going to call
off the strike.
He said: "Our members have made it categorically clear what
they want. This meeting we had with government on Friday at
the office of the Secretary to the Government ofthe Federation,
SGF, is just exploratory.
"We are trying to look at issues holistically and see how we are
going to address them. So assignments were given to various
people that attended the meeting and the expectation is that we
will meet tomorrow (today), Monday and look at the
assignment given and also look at it on Thursday again.
"So, that is why I'm surprised to hear people say that we are
going to suspend strike on Thursday. The mandate of our
members is very clear. So, we will wait and see what the
Monday and Thursday meetings unfold and then we report
back to our members."
On how long it would take ASUU leaders to convene a meeting
with its members after the meeting with government on
Thursday, the ASUU boss said "we are in constant
consultation with ourmembers, we don't really have problems
with that.
"After the meeting, we will decide when to link up with our
members depending upon what is placed on table on
Thursday."
Commenting on the speculation that the union might suspend
the strike if thegovernment met up to 50 per cent of the
agreement, Faggae said the union would prefer toget to the
bridge before crossing it.
He commended the positive disposition of the Joint Senate and
House of Representatives Committee on Education towards the
resolution of the crisis.
Fagge added: "For us, the interaction we have had with the
Joint Committee clearly indicates that they are concerned like
other Nigerians".
"This is expected of the representatives of people. You see the
problem has always been that the executive arm of
government does not really hearken to advise that are given on
how best to address the problems on education in this country.
"We are convinced as a union that the only thing the
government can really do for Nigerians is to avail them of
education.
"Once you are able to do that, you will see that people will
beable to generate jobs and they will be able to take care of
themselves and contribute to nation building. So that is the
argument we are placing on the table."
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